The War For The Elements
by MysteryWriter2187
Summary: Three years after the events of Frozen II, all seems well for Anna and Elsa as the bridge between Arendelle and the five spirits remains stronger than ever. When the peace is disrupted and everything they love is put at risk, the sisters must embark on a final adventure to embrace their destinies, as they stand together against a threat unlike any they've faced before. Complete.
1. Prologue - We Know Better

"Ah ha ha ha! Alright, come on, Berit... to bed with you now..."

_"But I can't sleep! I'm hyper!"_ the six year-old excitedly squealed back as she loosely hung from her mother's arms, reluctantly letting the Queen put her on top of the bedsheets. She blew her messy auburn hair out of her face, only for most of it to flop back over her eyes again. _"Oh come on, Mama, five more minutes?"_

"Sweetheart, you said that an hour ago..." the Queen pinched the bridge of her nose with another chuckle, lightly using her index finger to shift Berit's bangs away so her face became visible again. "You know, your brother wasn't nearly as difficult as this when he was your age."

_"Well that's because he's boring."_ Berit pouted with a laugh as she lay back in the bed, letting her mother move the sheets over her.

"Henrik isn't boring, he's just... he takes being a prince very seriously, that's all." the Queen sighed with a smirk as she looked at her daughter. "Berit, it's unlikely that you'll ever carry the type of burden that your brother will wield one day, but..."

_"I still don't know why he's the one who has to be King... I know he's older, but... but I'd be a much funner Queen than him."_

The Queen chuckled as she pressed two fingers to the girl's forehead, trying to keep her head planted against the pillow behind her. "Well, that's because there's a lot more to being in charge than just having fun, dear. You have tough decisions to make with power like that, and you have a lot of responsibility to make the right choice with it."

Berit rolled her eyes with a scoff. _"It can't be that hard."_

"Oh you'd be surprised." a brief moment of silence fell between mother and daughter as the Queen said this, with Berit scratching the back of her head as she thought about what to say. _"Mama?"_

"Yes darling?"

_"What... um... what do I do then?"_ Berit's eyes widened a bit. _"When he's the King, what will I be?"_

"Oh, um..." the Queen hesitated for a moment, but kept a smile on her face. "Well... you'd be a princess, same as now."

_"That's it? Nothing more?" _Berit seemed more worried than before. _"I mean... I don't think it's fair that he gets to rule the whole kingdom while I'm just... whatever I'm going to be..."_

"Well you could... um... you'd..." the Queen took another moment to think about this, pinching the bridge of her nose before eventually looking to her daughter and stroking the back of her head. "Look, you're too young to understand this, Berit, but I reckon Henrik will grow to be a fine king. And I think you're destined for your own kind of greatness."

_"What is it, though?"_

The Queen shrugged with a gentle chuckle. "Hmm... I'm afraid that's something you'll have to find out for yourself. But one thing's for certain, dear... with you and your brother side-by-side, I think Torden has a brighter future than anyone could ever imagine."

Berit smiled as she let her mother kiss her on the forehead, finally resting her head back on the pillow as the Queen stood up and headed towards the door. _"Good night, Mama."_

"Good night, my little storm queen." the Queen whispered gently as she took the candle that was illuminating the room from the corner and closed the door behind her. Berit rested back with her eyes shut for about five minutes, trying her hardest to fall asleep but just not being able to. While the candle was gone, her bedroom was still being bathed in a sea of different colours, all of them emanating from the window on her right.

Having tried her hardest to resist the temptation, Berit quickly clambered out of the covers and crept out of bed, tightly holding her favourite stuffed wolf toy in her arms as she tiptoed over to the window to get a look at where these lights were coming from. _"Wow..."_

The sky was practically awake with the vast rainbow that danced among the stars. The girl was just about hypnotised by the aurora's beauty and colours, standing there dazzled for hours before it eventually faded away back into the night.

* * *

**_Na na na heyana  
__Hahiyaha naha  
__Naheya heya na yanuwa  
__Anhahe yunuwana_**

**_Na na na heyana  
__Hahiyaha naha  
__Naheya heya na yanuwa  
__Anhahe yunuwana_**

* * *

Elsa sat besides her door with her ears covered, trying to block out the piercing shrieks that were coming from down the hallway. The three year-old had never heard her mother screaming this loudly before, and it was making her more and more anxious the longer it went on. The cold was starting to emanate from her again, like it always did when she wasn't calm or happy, but she managed to stop it completely freezing the floor as the door opened beside her and she looked up.

_"Papa...?"_

"Elsa..." the King slowly entered and looked down to his child, calmly holding out his hand to her with a smile. "Come on. Let's go."

She gulped nervously as she clambered clumsily to her feet, taking her father's hand to steady herself some more. _"Is... is Mama okay?"_

Agnarr nodded warmly, stroking the back of his daughter's head as he said "oh, she's fine. She's wonderful. But... there's someone in there I'd like you to meet, Elsa."

_"Really? Who is it?"_

* * *

Agnarr gently opened the door to the bedroom, greeting his resting wife with a kiss on the forehead as Elsa shyly stood at the door. There was still a piercing wail coming from the small, wooden cradle beside Iduna's bed, and the noise of it still kept Elsa at bay as she nervously hesitated to proceed.

"Come... it's alright, dear." Agnarr motioned her forwards, prompting Elsa to slowly enter and close the door behind her. She tiptoed past her parents on the bed, arriving at the very edge of the cradle and putting her hands to it as she looked inside.

Her eyes widened as she saw the small, redheaded little creature lying inside, with the infant suddenly ceasing her crying when she saw who was looking at her. The ecstatic little squeal that the baby let out at the sight of her filled Elsa's heart with a joy unlike anything she'd ever felt before, and she could almost feel something building between herself and this frail little being she was face-to-face with.

This connection was something she couldn't really explain, whatever it was, but something in her mind was telling her that a wonderful, beautiful, _magical_ adventure had just begun. And that she was going to cherish every moment of it with her new little sister.

_Hello little baby  
You're a princess, just like me_

_Bet you're thinking maybe  
It's a pretty cool thing to be_

Exchanging an encouraging little nod with her parents, Elsa carefully reached her hand into the cradle, gently stroking a few strands of the baby's already messy mop of strawberry blonde hair. She knew her hands were colder than they likely should have been, but it seemed the infant wasn't scared or hurt by the sudden chill, instead letting out an amused giggle as if she was being tickled.

_But soon you'll see that everyone expects a lot from you_  
_They'll say that there are things a princess should and shouldn't do_

Elsa pulled her hand back slowly, being surprised when the baby clasped both her hands around her older sister's forearm. She turned to their parents for another brief moment, before she looked back to the giggling infant with another smile.

_But you and me_  
_We..._

_We know better_

* * *

_"Anna, slow down! Ha ha!"_ Elsa laughed as she chased the excited four year-old around the hallways of the castle. She eventually caught up to Anna at the top of the staircase, with the younger sister putting up her hands as they both shouted **_"secret handshake!"_**

**_1, 2, 3 together, clap together, snap together  
__You and me together, knees together, freeze together_**

**_Up or down together, princess crown together_**  
**_Always be together, you and me_**

Putting her foot to the top step, Elsa managed to send a thin slide of ice all the way to the bottom step. Nodding encouragingly with Anna, Elsa held tightly onto her sister as they both went on it, laughing and whooping all the way down. **_"WHOOOOOOOOO!"_**

They say a princess is full of charm and grace

_They say she always knows her place_

They say a princess wears pink and frilly clothes

_They say she never laughs and snorts milk out her nose_

They say she's calm

_They say she's kind_

They say she never speaks her mind

_Or freezes nanny's big behind_

**"GIRLS!"**

**_But you and me, we... we know better_**

**"You two will be in so much trouble, just wait til I tell your...!"**

The sisters both darted out of the room as Gerda continued ranting, hiding behind a doorway as they giggled to themselves. "Hey Elsa?"

_"Yeah?"_

"How come you can do that and I can't?"

_"Hmm..."_ Elsa thought for a moment. _"Well, I dunno. I wish you could, though..."_

_They say a princess is super duper sweet_

She doesn't fight, she doesn't sweat

**_And you never see her eat... EEURP!_**

They say a princess wouldn't climb and scrape her knee

_They say a princess wouldn't freeze her tutor's tea_

They say she's poised

_They say she's fair_

She never mentions... **_UNDERWEAR!_**

_Or longs to see the world out there!_

* * *

_"Anna...? But... she froze your heart..."_

"The only frozen heart around here is _yours_."

Anna tried her best to look dignified and graceful as she turned away from Hans, though she couldn't resist the temptation to turn back and send him spiralling off the boat with a fist to the face. There was a brief moment of hesitation from both sisters as they looked back at each other, but they eventually gave in and wrapped themselves together in the tightest, warmest hug either could give.

"Elsa, I..." when Anna separated slowly from the embrace she looked to her older sister. "If I'd known about you and... and this, I... I never would have..."

_"No, it... it's okay, Anna, that... that's all in the past now, right...?"_ Elsa's tone still betrayed a slight hint of worry, but her face lit up again when her sister nodded excitedly.

"Yeah..." Anna took her sister's hands in her own. "We're together again."

_"Uh-huh... and together we'll stay."_

_Now I'm queen_

And I'm your right hand

_You'll get to travel throughout the land_

I'll tell them of my sister, and the magic things she can do

_We'll take care of our people and they will love_  
**_Me and you_**

* * *

Anna struggled to get across the ice rink that Elsa had turned the palace courtyard into, just managing to fall into her sister's arms with a clumsy chuckle. "I like the open gates."

_"We are never closing them again..."_ with an excited grin on her face, Elsa swivelled her hands downwards as Anna looked to her feet. She gasped as her white and gold boots were turned into ice skates.

"Oh Elsa, they're beautiful, but you know I don't sk..."

_"Come on, you can do it!"_ Elsa skirted backwards, pulling Anna by her forearms across the rink, both of them laughing like the old days for the first time in forever.

* * *

**_No one can tell us what a princess should be_**  
**_As long as we're together_**

**_You... and... me_**


	2. Let The Sun Shine On - Life's Too Short

**SIX YEARS LATER**

* * *

_"Ah Yelena, always a pleasure..."_ General Mattias gave a respectful nod as he exchanged a handshake with the Northuldra leader, letting her and her tribe members follow him through the open gates and into the castle's main courtyard.

Yelena wouldn't openly admit it, though her expressions betrayed that she was clearly impressed with the effort that had gone in the lavish decorating being done to the kingdom on this day of celebration. The aesthetic of the ornaments was primarily white and blue, which occasionally albeit intentionally clashed with panels of green and orange.

Everyone looked up in awed though somewhat unsurprised wonder as small icicles and snowflakes suddenly appeared in the sky, resting and dangling from the bunting and fitting perfectly with the decorations already there. The distant neighing turned the entire kingdom's attention to the _Nøkk_ as it strode across the sea towards the kingdom, with most of the crowd cheering as they spotted the almost angelic white figure atop it's back.

Mattias held his hand out cordially to Elsa, who took it with a grin as she gazed above with an enthused exhale. _"Good morning General. I__ gotta say... really like what we've done with the decorations this year..."_

Mattias laughed as he motioned his eyes towards the castle. _"Well her majesty had a lot of design input... as you'd expect."_

Yelena and Elsa both laughed at this, with Yelena continuing on with Mattias while Elsa turned to the small herd of reindeer that the Northuldra were bringing into the courtyard.

"Okay, so what about...** Prince Hans of the Southern Isles!** No... that's not right, uh..." Ryder obsessively studied the script in his hands as he sat on the back of the reindeer that his sister was leading ahead. He tried again, this time rolling his Rs as he said **"Prrrrrrrrince Hans of the Southerrrrrrrrn Isles-a! **Ugh, no... hey, sis... how would you say this line?"

"Why don't you just say it like a normal person?" Honeymaren answered as she turned to face him. "I mean... isn't the whole idea that he's pretty much normal before we find out what he's really like?"

"Yeah, but on a scale of 1 to 10, how normal should he sound?"

"A scale of 1 to 10? You gotta be kidding me... uh... whatever, I don't know, okay?"

_"Just say it however you want, Ryder..."_ Elsa patted the reindeer's face as she walked over to them. _"You're gonna do great, I just know it."_

"I appreciate that, Elsa... I mean... it's just a lot of pressure when the Queen of Arendelle casts you as someone she really hates... you know?"

_"Well..."_ Elsa chuckled a bit as she thought for a moment, casually leaning against the reindeer as she looked up at Ryder. _"If you want my advice, just act like yourself... you know, until we find out you're the bad guy, then... don't act like yourself...?"_

Elsa was certain that her advice was far too vague and unhelpful, but the pondering look on Ryder's face seemed to imply that he was actually taking it to heart. "Hmm... okay, sure... thanks, Elsa..."

"So who actually wrote the script?" Honeymaren asked, prompting another light laugh from Elsa as she said _"mostly Olaf. Anna was a... factual consultant."_

Honeymaren grinned at this as she twiddled her thumbs. "Well I know your sister's always obsessed with getting this festival right every year, Elsa, but... come on, a whole play?"

_"This is Anna we're talking about, Honey..."_ Elsa let out a warm chuckle as she looked to the castle. _"She always knows how to put on a good show..."_

* * *

_**KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!**_

As was expected from her established morning tradition, the Queen ignored the first three knocks that came at the door, still keeping her face buried in her pillow as she snored loudly. Her hair was a frizzed mess, again as usual for this time of day, to the point where she looked less like a human being and more like a sleeping toilet brush with a face buried in there somewhere.

_**KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!**_

_"Um... your majesty?"_ Kai's voice called from the other side of the door, which seemed to get a small fraction of the slumbering monarch's attention before the much louder voice of her husband chimed in. **_"Hey, Anna!"_**

"**AAAAGHH, what?!** Oh... um... ugh... yeah...?" Anna clumsily pulled herself up into a right angle, sitting in the bed with her eyes still closed as she slowly stretched her arms out. Kristoff sighed, saying _"sorry, Anna... I didn't wanna have to wake you, but..."_

"Oh no-no, no, Kristoff, you uh... you didn't, I uh... oh I've been up for hours..." Anna let a yawn slowly overpower her words as she used her hand prop up her head, almost falling asleep again before she shot up, albeit with eyes still closed. "What's going on?"

_"It's mid-morning, your majesty."_ Kai let a brief chuckle out. _"Your sister has arrived with the Northuldra. Time to get ready..."_

"Right... right, ready... ready for what?"

_"Um... the festival, your majesty...?"_ Anna slowly opened her eyes as she yawned into her hand, muttering quietly to herself. "Yeah... the festival, the festival... _wait, what?_ Festival...?"

She gasped aloud as she caught a glance at the ceremonial dress positioned in front of her changing screen and her eyes finally widened to fully awake. She counted to three on her fingers as she spoke. "The festival's today, Elsa's here with the Northuldra, and now it's mid-morning... **I OVERSLEPT!**"

* * *

Within a half hour the crowd was starting to gather in front of the wooden stage that had been set up before the castle. The seats were randomly filled with no segregation by citizens of Arendelle, Northuldra and the trolls, with Pabbie and Yelena having front row seats besides Mattias, Halima and Oaken's family.

Anna nervously peeked through a crack in the curtains covering the back of the stage, wringing her hands worryingly as she said "wow... that crowd looks a lot bigger than I thought it would... man, is it hot in here or is it just me? Uh... um... ugh... okay, so I dunno if I'm elated or gassy, but I think I'm _definitely_ somewhere in that zone!"

_"Anna, it'll be fine... otherwise I wouldn't have grown this..."_ Kristoff gently put a hand on her shoulder as he pointed to the moustache and disconnected anchor beard on his face, before looking down to the snowman carrying a large bundle of twigs and grass in his arms. _"You nearly done with the costume there, Olaf?"_

"Oh yeah... Sven's been helping me out..." Olaf patted the reindeer on the nose as Kristoff and Anna looked to them both. Sven nodded slowly with a weak little smile, yawning as he lowered himself onto the floor to rest. Kristoff gently rustled the greying hairs on his old companion's head, smiling as he said _"yeah... you have your breather, buddy. We're gonna nail this, aren't we?"_

Anna smiled at this, only for her eyes to widen as she heard another familiar voice behind her. _"And just when I thought you couldn't be anymore full of surprises, Anna..."_

**"ELSA!"** Anna turned around and darted into her sister's arms. "I'm so glad you're here! I thought... I thought maybe you didn't wanna do the show, or if you were too busy with the spirits, or if something was gonna come up or... **ooh, wait a sec!** You think I look enough like mother?"

Anna did a dramatic turn to give Elsa a full view of the dress she was wearing, as well as the crown-twist bun that she'd put her hair into. Elsa choked up a bit as she put her hands over her mouth, fighting back a tear from her right eye as she took her sister's hands. _"Anna... you look perfect..."_

"All ready here!" Honeymaren called suddenly as she pushed Ryder in, the latter trying to make himself comfortable in the white naval uniform he'd been tightly squeezed into. Kristoff nodded, looking to Anna and Elsa as he said _"it's time, you guys."_

Anna turned to Elsa, who responded with a nod as Anna said "right... showtime..."

* * *

The choir walked onstage first, being a mix of both Arendellian and Northuldran performers as they sang a brief extract of the traditional Northuldran Vuelie. Mattias stepped onto the stage and cleared his throat as he opened the scroll in his hands, bellowing out in a powerful, resonant tone for all in the crowd to hear.

**_"Greetings, one and all... ladies, gentlemen, esteemed dignitaries of the Northuldra and the troll kingdom... I bid you welcome to the kingdom of Arendelle, and the performance of this great show. It is is a tale of loss, betrayal and the fear of the unknown, but it's all very entertaining so it's not all doom and gloom. Anyway... without further ado, let us begin... The Festival of the Snow Queen..."_**

He strode away as the lights on the stage dimmed, with the audience erupting into applause as Anna and Kristoff walked onto the stage with two young girls. The choir started up again as the lights came back on full beam to illuminate the platform.

**_Nah nah yanana_**

Anna gently prodded the two girls forwards, the redheaded one playing her while the taller blonde played Elsa, as the choir continued their song.

**_Once there was a family, beloved by all_**  
**_A King, a Queen, Two Princesses_**  
**_And the story starts, when they were small_**

**"Hey Elsa! Do you want to build a snowman?!"** the actress playing Anna shouted as loudly and dramatically as she could, while the actress playing Elsa started dramatically swishing her hands around making **_"whoosh"_** noises with her mouth.

_**Elsa was a special child**_  
_**From her first frozen tear**_  
_**Her magic filled her parent's hearts**_  
_**With so much love... and fear**_

**"Fear will be your enemy!" **Olaf dramatically shouted as he came onstage dressed as Pabbie and pointed to the actress playing Elsa. Anna held either of the girls' hands, separating them from each other while Kristoff gave Elsa's actress two satin gloves to wear.

**"In an effort to protect their daughters, the king and queen decided to separate Elsa from everyone, including her own sister..."** Anna recounted to the audience, before the actress playing her jumped forward and shouted **"they meant well by it, but they didn't think about how Elsa and I would feel about it!"**

Kristoff helped the actress playing Elsa to put on the gloves, while they both said _"conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show..."_

Olaf, Kristoff and the actress playing Elsa exited stage-left, while Anna and her actress continued singing together as they exited stage-right.

**Let the sun shine on**  
**Let our hearts be light**  
**Like this perfect, happy, shiny summer day!**

**Let the sun shine on**  
**Cause it's all alright**  
**Together we can keep the storm at bay!**

**"Eventually, the time came for Elsa to take the throne of Arendelle!"** With almost inhuman speed, Anna came back on from stage-left, her hair now in it's usual plaits as she wore the same dress she had on during their adventure in the Enchanted Forest. Ryder entered from stage-right, bowing slightly to Anna as he introduced himself in-character. **"Prince Hans, of the Sourthern Isles."**

**_"BOOOO!" _**Several children yelled out in the audience, though Mattias was by far the loudest in voicing his disapproval as Ryder got down on one knee and Anna took his hand dramatically. **"Oh _of course_ I'll marry a man I just met... I'm absolutely sure it's true love!"**

_**"Anna, what do you know of true love?"** _Elsa said this as she entered stage-left behind Anna, having changed into her old coronation outfit and bun. Nevertheless, a good portion of the crowd cheered loudly when she entered, prompting her to blush briefly before she got back into character and stood close to her sister.

**"More than you do... all you know is how to shut people out!"** Anna dramatically yanked Elsa's right glove off of her hand, prompting Elsa to shoot out an sharp aberration of ice that stuck to the very edge of the stage. Ryder and Elsa exited stage-left while Kristoff and Sven entered stage-right, now wearing their ice harvesting gear, before Olaf slid in from behind them.

**"I LIVE!"** he shouted as he rose up, with Anna, Kristoff and Sven all pretending to look surprised. Elsa came back on from stage-left, now wearing her first ice outfit with her hair being in a single loose braid. _**"I'm finally free to be who I am!"**_

**"Eeeeeeeeeeh... not exactly..."** Anna said with her hands together as a laugh started in the crowd. **"You see sis, you kinda froze the whole fjord when you were leaving and everybody's gonna die unless we go back and fix it..."**

_**"Oh no, it's all going wrong!"**_ Elsa thrust her hands out as Anna clutched her own chest, falling onto her knees as Kristoff picked her up and put her on Sven's back. Olaf went off stage-left as Ryder re-entered from stage-right with a sword in hand, while Elsa dropped to her knees and pretended to cry in despair. Olaf came back a few seconds later, wearing his Pabbie costume again as he took Anna's hand.

**"Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart..."** Olaf went off-stage again as Kristoff carried Anna over to Ryder, who cupped Anna's face as she puckered her lips.

**"Here's a true love's kiss..."** Ryder brought her slightly closer, only to dramatically put the palm of his hand to Anna's face. **"I don't think so! Guess what, I'm the bad guy, and now I'm gonna kill Elsa and bring back summer!"**

Ryder raised his sword above Elsa's head, with the latter discreetly putting her hand to the stage floor to instantly materialise an ice sculpture of Anna. Ryder lightly hit the statue with the sword, clumsily throwing it aside as he threw himself back and fell off the stage, weakly calling "I'm okay!" to (most of) the audience's relief.

The snow effects around the stage began to disappear as Elsa made the sculpture vanish the real Anna got back on her feet, taking her hands as they looked at each other. **_"Oh, Anna... you'd really sacrificed yourself for me?"_**

**"Of course I would..."** Anna answered back smiling as a piano started up, signalling that their duet was about to begin. **"I love you, Elsa...and I'll always be here for you..."**

I went all the way that day  
to give us a fresh start  
And now that you're like WOW  
I'm all like... warm in the heart

_Well, this is who I am_  
_Welcome to the real me_  
_You have no idea, how great it feels to be free_

The Earth spirits suddenly caused the cobblestones ahead of the sisters to rise into a bridge, prompting them to link arms as they walked in-sync up it.

We were falling out for way too long  
so let's forget who's right

_And forget who's wrong_

**_Okay!_**

The wind spirit Gale arrived, swirling her way around the sisters as they reached the top of the stone pedestal to the crowd's audible awe and wonder.

**_Cause life's too short_**

To always feel shut out and unloved by the sister I long to know

**_Life's too short_**

_To never let you see who I am, the true queen of the ice and snow_

Woah-ho-ho

_**I never understood, but now I do**_  
_**Life's too short to miss out on a sister like you**_

The choir reprised their chant of the Vuelie as the fire spirit Bruni and the _Nøkk_ swirled in on Gale, creating pillars of water and fire around Anna and Elsa. The cobblestones on the ground beneath the pair began to rise, lifting them both up together as the choir continued with everyone else joining in.

**_Let the sun shine on_**  
**_Over Arendelle_**  
**_Let the crown be strong and let your love be true_**

_Your love be true!_

**_Bless our daughters fair, whom we love so well_**  
**_We will look to you_**

The crowd applauded as the two Queens returned to the stage platform, and all those on stage bowed graciously to their adoring public. When they all stood up again, the sisters trapped themselves in a tight embrace, holding on for a good few moments as they grinned warmly at one another. As far as they were both concerned, everything was perfect now. They had their friends, they had their kingdom, and they had each other.

And they couldn't possibly wish for anything better.


	3. A Sisterly Promise

**"Hoo! Man, I'm beat!"**

It was just past sunset when the group retired to the castle again, both of the sisters so tired that they had their arms around one another's shoulders to keep themselves stood up. After the performance had finished they'd both spent the rest of the festival wearing the outfits they'd started the day in, Anna's being a black dress with green lining while Elsa's was her usual shining, ethereal white. Kristoff had put Sven back in the stables to rest again after giving him some carrots to eat, but he was now back in the palace as he followed the pair through the dining hall and into the ballroom.

Anna laughed with an exhausted yawn as Elsa passed her over to Kristoff, who gently sat his wife down on a chair while she playfully pulled at his new facial hair. Elsa continued walking a few feet onward, slowly kneeling down on the floor as she glanced around and took in every old and new detail of the ballroom the three of them were standing in.

Anna noticed this, raising an eyebrow with some slight concern as she said "Elsa... you okay?"

_"I'm fine, it just... hmm... brings back a lot of memories being in here, doesn't it?"_ she turned back to Anna with a smile, which prompted a nostalgic little nod from her younger sister as Olaf sat at her feet.

Anna stroked the top of the snowman's head, a grin on her face as she said "hey Olaf... did we ever tell you about the first time we built you?"

"Was this the same time Elsa hit you in the head with her magic? Cause I've heard that a lot of times."

Anna rubbed her eyebrow with an awkward laugh at this. "Well, yeah we've told you that part a lot of times, but the thing is... it was this room, _right here,_ where we did it..." she tapped her foot on the floor as Olaf looked around in slight awe. He'd been in this ballroom many times over the past six years, but both sisters could tell that this newfound knowledge was giving him a whole new outlook on the place.

"OOH!" he shot up like a bullet to everyone's surprise, grabbing both Anna and Elsa's hands as he said "I almost forgot to tell you guys... I finished it today!"

**_"Wait, finished wh-OH!" _**Elsa was cut off as he yanked them along towards the far corner of the ballroom, with Kristoff lagging behind slightly as they stopped at a table with a cloth covering whatever was placed on top of it. The look on Anna's face as she excitedly latched herself onto Elsa's arm seemed to indicate that the younger sibling already knew what it was under there, but even she hadn't seen it in it's completion. The snowman ran over to the corner of the cloth, taking a few moments to build suspense before finally pulling it away with a gleeful **"TA-DA!"**

The three adults were all enamoured in amazement with what he had revealed, with even Anna's eyes going wide at the finished model. With it being made solely out of ice and snow, it was clear that Olaf had dramatically improved in his sculpting over the past few weeks, as the 1:50 scale diorama of Arendelle Castle was meticulously and expertly detailed all over, from the spire on the very top to the windows, roof and just about every other aspect. Elsa had remembered giving him a few large piles of it on her last visit without bothering to ask why he wanted it, though it was clear now that he'd intended for this to be a surprise on the day of the festival.

_"Aw Olaf, it... it's beautiful... wow, just... wow..."_ Elsa gently tapped the top of the palace with her fingertip, brushing it down the rest of the model to feel each and every one of the intricately carved lines and patterning that had been emblazoned onto it. The smaller figurines that were meant to represent the people in the castle were slightly less detailed, due to being smaller and much easier to break as a result, but were no less impressive.

Despite the awe that the revelation of this first exhibit had put her into, Elsa was snapped back to reality as her eyes were soon cast to the other models on the table, stifling a laugh in her throat as she said _"oh, um... and who are these guys...?"_

The two snowmen stood lifelessly next to the model of the castle, positioned side-by-side in order of shortest to tallest. Squealing with excitement, Anna and Olaf both went behind the table so they were now facing Elsa and Kristoff, with Olaf using a chair to get himself on the table next to the models.

Anna was trying not to laugh as she said "okay, so long story short... last week I got really bored after a whole day of Queen stuff, as you do, so, you know, I decided to chip in with this little project Olaf was working on, and I think it turned out pretty damn great... we call them... _The Epitome Of Snowmanity_."

Elsa pinched the bridge of her nose as she chuckled again, while Kristoff put his hands on his hips as he said _"right... and do these two have names, or are they just... you know...?"_

"Oh yeah, they do have names..." Olaf said as went to the tallest of the models. Of the two this looked the most like Olaf himself, though with a somewhat sharper and thinner body shape and a few inches taller than him as well, not counting the three wavy sticks that stuck out the top of it's head. This snowman also had a blue and green striped scarf around it's neck, and the carrot that it had for a nose faced the opposite way to Olaf's with the round stalk sticking outwards and the pointy tip on the inside of the head.

The small lumps of coal that had been used to make his mouth were also positioned in a straighter line that almost seemed to look like a frown rather than a smile, but Olaf still hugged it tightly as he looked to the others. "I named him Loaf..." he said, covering either side of the model's head as he whispered _"he's not really a people person!"_

_"Oh is that so...?"_ Elsa had a brow raised, before looking to Anna as she moved onto the next model.

"I mostly made this one, as you can probably tell..." she said confidently as she patted it on the head. This one was only a few inches shy of Olaf's height, with slightly rounder, plumper proportions. The head was more circular than Olaf's head was, with only the bottom few inches of the carrot nose sticking out from the face while a pair of glasses that Elsa used to read with were loosely hanging on top of it. The small mouth drawn in red lipstick indicated that this snowman was meant to be a female, as well as the darker patch of snow on top of the head that had been sculpted to look like a pixie haircut.

Anna held up the snow-girl's arms as Elsa and Kristoff both laughed, putting on a slightly high-pitched voice as she said **"hi, my name's Beatrix, and I'm getting a good vibe from you!"**

_"Ugh... you are such a moron..."_ Elsa playfully shoved her sister a bit, both of them laughing at the remark as Anna stood back up. She straightened herself a bit as she glanced at the two snowmen again, a slight hint of nervousness coming into her voice as she said "well yeah, but... I mean... I know they're a little messy, but... but I..."

_"Anna... they look great."_ Elsa smiled as she took her hands. _"I love them."_

Anna looked to Kristoff, who nodded in agreement as he said _"what else can I say? Building snowmen's pretty much a talent with you guys..."_

* * *

**_"Anna, how hard is it to accept that I like them both equally?_"**

All the way through dinner, the charades game they'd played in their pyjamas and now as they went upstairs to the bedrooms, Anna had been obsessively pestering Elsa to pick which of the two snowman models she'd preferred. In an attempt to avoid too much unfair bias, Anna had tried her best to list the strengths and weaknesses in both models, such as height differences or the amount of detail and care put in some areas to come to others, as well as her own years of craftsmanshup compared to Olaf's more recent fascination with it.

Elsa was so sick of hearing about it at this point that she almost considering shutting her bedroom door before Anna could come in with her, but decided against this as Anna had eventually let the topic rest. She instead went towards the window, looking up admiringly into the night sky as the aurora cast itself across the stars. Anna closed the door behind herself, waiting for a moment in silence as she glanced towards the closet on the right side of the room. "Um... hey Elsa?"

_"Uh-huh...?"_ Elsa didn't turn to face her as she kept her gaze on the aurora outside the window, but it was clear that she was still listening to what Anna was saying.

Anna slowly edged closer to the closet, saying "okay, so... you know I'm hosting this meeting tomorrow, and a bunch of other kingdoms are coming over to talk about trade and stuff... right?"

_"Oh yeah..."_ Elsa turned to face her now, a knowing smirk on her face as she saw Anna standing by the closet and had already knew what she was going to be asked. _"Hmm... Anna, I've told you this a hundred times... I don't wear those dresses anymore. You can take whatever you want."_

"Great, thanks!" Anna quickly opened the closet and disappeared inside it, Elsa chuckling in amusement as she sat on the corner of her bed.

_"So what happened to that one you borrowed last time?"_

"Pig. Pie." Anna called back from somewhere inside the closet. "I mean... not a pig pie, but... pig and pie. Oh, and ocean, too... hey, where's that rose dress?"

_"Still recovering from the last time you wore it."_

"Oh yeah, right... wait... oh my g... Elsa, what the heck is _this_ thing supposed to be?"

_"What thing?"_ Elsa went wide-eyed and looked away with a grimace as Anna came out wearing an elaborate orange ball gown with a comically oversized bodice, wrapped off-the-shoulder sleeves and a gold wide-hemmed floor-length skirt, with a wide sun hat to match. Elsa stifled a laugh as she stood up, trying to grab her sister as she dramatically paraded herself around.

**"Ooh... ooh-la-la... my hips are here, my hips are there. Oops, pardon my behind, young man, didn't mean to knock you down!"**

_"It was... a gift, okay?"_ Elsa said as she finally got hold of Anna, who laughed as she said "a gift? From whom?"

_"Oh I don't know... one of those... big countries... look, just pick a dress and stop goofing around, okay? I'm exhausted."_ Elsa playfully pulled the sun hat over Anna's face and pushed her sister back into the closet before she returned to her bed. Anna eventually came back out about five minutes later, holding a light blue dress in her arms that she left folded on the corner of the bed as she sat a few inches away from Elsa.

"I'm gonna guess you're not staying for it..." she seemed slightly disappointed as she said this, even more so when Elsa reluctantly shook her head. Elsa still tried to sound comforting as she took her hand, saying _"I'm gonna head to Ahtohallan first thing in the morning."_

"Yeah... that's fine. I'll manage." Anna gently her hand against Elsa's with a grin. "When will you be here next?"

_"Probably next week, I guess... maybe a little earlier, who knows..."_ Elsa smiled back. _"You'll do great tomorrow, sis... you always do."_

"Hmm... uh-huh..." Anna took a slightly deep breath as they looked at each other for a few moments. Elsa could tell that her sister had something she wasn't telling her about, raising an eyebrow as she said "okay... what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's just... it's right, really..." Anna itched the back of her head as she looked up to the aurora outside the window. "It's just this time of year, Elsa... you know, today... every time it comes around I just... it's kind of crazy, actually... you know, six years ago I thought we'd never talk to each other again and... and you were basically a stranger to me, but... here we are now, you know... together, just like when we were kids... and now it's always like this and it just... I still can't believe there was ever a time when it wasn't... know what I mean?"

_"Oh Anna..."_ Elsa pulled her sister into a hug, letting Anna rest her head on her shoulder as she returned the embrace. _"It's never gonna be like that again. Ever."_

Anna looked up at her with a hopeful, loving look in her slightly misty eyes. "You sure?"

_"I promise..."_ Elsa planted a light kiss on Anna's forehead before pulling her close again. _"We'll always be together, Anna. Nothing on Earth's ever gonna change that."_


	4. Weselton Council

_**"I'm as annoyed as the rest of you that I keep having to say this, friends, but this is a total disaster!"**_

The Six Governors were all gathered around the table in the Great Hall, observing the large map that was unfurled across it with small wooden boat models positioned in different parts. The lead speaker placed the tip of his pointer near the three ships positioned in one region of the map. _**"First our farmlands were cindered to a crisp, then the floods happened, and now this is our third shipment in the last month that was sunk in the Eastern Sea. And how did this happen? Yet another sudden, unpredicted lightning storm!"**_

The Duke scoffed at this concern as his much taller associates all glared at him, nervously creasing down his uniform and twirling his moustache as he stepped forward to speak. "Well I would say that the imperative word to focus on there is _unpredicted_... we cannot be blamed for a lightning storm nor are we required to explain it!"

**"Oh is that so...?"** one of the other governors cut in with a sarcastic yet furious tone in her voice. **"I suppose, then, we have no need to explain why our ships, our farmland and our country are the only ones on this entire continent being affected by it! On a regular basis!"**

A brief flash of anger from the speaker caused him to swat his pointer hard onto the table, causing these three ships to fall onto their sides. He calmed himself slightly as he continued. _**"To add insult to injury, we've heard word that Corona has finally had enough and they're also refusing any further business with Weselton! At this rate we'll be in default before the end of the year!"**_

**"Why are we even debating this? We already know who's fault it is!"** another said as he pointed aggressively to the Duke, who seemed surprised and almost offended as he looked back. **"Weselton was once a respected establishment before you tainted our proud legacy with your swindling greed. The next generation is likely going to grow up thinking that our country is called _Weasel-Town_ because of you, _Your Grace!_ And I've no doubt in my heart that these lightning storms are a direct punishment that we've been having to suffer because of your actions in..."**

**_BANG!_** The Duke opened his mouth to interrupt, only for everyone to be cut off as the doors to the Great Hall suddenly flew open, letting in a fog of thick, purple smoke that completely shrouded the entire room around them. _**CRASH!**_ They all jolted in shock as a powerful bolt of sharp, golden forked lightning suddenly tore through the fog, with the Duke being especially afraid as he darted behind his two guards.

This lightning wasn't like any that anyone had ever seen, being far more jagged to the point where it almost seemed alive, with a small branch of it breaking away from the rest of the bolt and dancing in the air. This rogue strand jumped between each of the torches that surrounded the table, creating a small purple flame in each one that cast the entire room in a slightly dark tint of indigo before it rejoined the larger bolt that rescinded back into the fog.

The few brief flashes going on within the smoke indicated that there was far more lightning where that came from, with a few keen eyes just managing to occasionally spot a human figure standing in the centre of it, seeming to grow larger and closer each time it disappeared and reappeared. A black, medium-heeled boot was the first thing to step outwards from the smoke, soon followed by the rest of the tall, slender figure that it belonged to.

The woman was covered from head-to-toe with a form-fitting outfit comprised mostly from rusted pieces of brown leather, stitched together with strands of metal that were also messily woven into the fabrics themselves. Her fingerless black gloves went up to her forearms, but were strapped tight with the same small buckles that her boots did. The dirty black cloak she wore only reached her midsection, just short of her stomach, while the hood concealed the front half of her pale, almost ghost-white face in shadow. Her purple-coloured lips were curled in a smug yet vague little smirk, being the only expression on her hidden face that the Council could actually see as she stopped about ten feet away from her table.

"Ah-ha!" the Duke came out from behind his guards, seeming to find a burst of courage and confidence as he arrogantly pointed to the intruder. He glanced to the last governor that had been speaking as he continued grinning, saying "and I've no doubt in _my_ heart, that this cloaked miscreant is the one who's been causing us all this trouble!"

He reached for the sword on his belt as the woman silently raised her left hand near to her hooded face, casually pressing her thumb and middle finger together. "How dare you set foot in this hall after all you've done to this kingdom... now... I will have to ask you to leave our land and take your sorcery and devil's work with you, before I resort to the necessary... **AAAAAAAHHHH!**"

With a mere snap of her fingers several more jagged bolts flew out from the smoke cloud behind the woman, pinning the squealing and terrified Duke directly onto the table as his fellow Governors all stood back. These bolts had all combined, taking a shape that could only be described as a massive, snarling hell hound comprised entirely of crackling electricity.

The sweating Duke panted breathlessly as this beast bared it's large, sparkling canines in his face, before the woman whistled in a summoning tone and finally let her soft but slightly deadpan voice be heard. _"Easy, Lynnedslag... he was just trying to be the hero again... I reckon we've gotten our point across to the rest of them..."_

The Hound obliged to this order, releasing the shivering, petrified Duke as it rescinded behind it's master, though still remained visible to the Council as the woman took a few more nonchalant steps towards them. She kept her hood over herself as she bent down slightly at the table, casually picking up one of the model ships and looking at it with an almost child-like smirk.

_"So... are we to assume you are indeed the source of our recent crisis?"_ the lead speaker was careful yet calm as he spoke, trying his best not to provoke the wrath of this mysterious figure the same way the Duke had. Though he wasn't quite sure if the woman was actually paying attention to him as she playfully dragged the small ship across the map like an overgrown toddler with a toy.

_**"Neeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooowwwww... PSSHHHHHHHH!"**_ she drove it directly into the small cluster of ships that had been gathered on the Northern area of the map, chuckling to herself before she stood back up again and the smile shrank back a bit.

_"You're wrong to presume that my storms are meant to be a threat, or an act of conflict... hmm... just me having a bit of a laugh, that's all... and it seems you suffer plenty by your own doing..."_ the woman glanced down at the map again, noticing the part of it where she'd just knocked all of those ships towards. _"I mean... six years since Arendelle cut you off, I'd have thought this little merchant isle would have at least made a bit more progress."_

The lead speaker rolled his eyes a bit, saying _"unfortunately, it's rather difficult to gain the confidence of new partners when one of your governors attempts sedition against a magic Queen."_

The woman's hooded head pricked up slightly at this, turning slightly in the general direction of the speaker as she said _"ah yes... Agnarr's girls..."_

The Duke weakly pulled himself to his knees, his monocle falling from his still traumatised face as she said "d... do you know them...?"

_"I know of them."_ she answered back nonchalantly as she gripped the back of the Duke's neck, slowly pulling the shorter man back to his feet as she continued. _"For quite some time I've been intrigued by rumours of an Arendellian princess, born on a Winter Solstice with the power to create ice and snow... I was hoping that I could receive some verification from the likes of you, actually... given your... unfortunate experience, Your Grace."_

The Duke seemed taken aback by this, taking a moment to regain his usual smugness as he put his monocle back on his brow. "Well, I can confirm to you, my child, that the rumours are absolute truth... the Snow Queen is very, very real. My bravery in facing her cannot be understated, you know, given that she's proven herself even more powerful than the likes of you!"

The light clenching of her fist indicated that the woman wasn't entirely pleased by that last remark, almost seeming offended by it for the briefest moment before another small, almost competitive little grin came to her face again. _"Well... I'll just have to see about that when I meet her myself."_

With a dramatic swish of her cloak the figure turned from the table as she and Lynnedslag began walking towards the smoke that they had entered in. The lead speaker was wide-eyed as he tried to follow after her, saying _"wait, meet her? Madam, if you intend any harm to the royal family of Arendelle, my conscience would convince me to inform them of it. And if it's Queen Elsa that you're targeting, well... you'll have to find her first."_

This caused the woman to freeze on the spot before she could disappear back into the smoke. _"I'm sorry... find?"_

"Well... yes..." another of the governors spoke up. "Three years ago, Queen Elsa abdicated the throne and disappeared into the island's Northern Forest. Her sister Queen Anna rules Arendelle."

The woman's lips faltered for a moment or two, with the grin eventually coming back wider than ever. _"Well then... ha ha... that'll certainly be interesting..."_

She strode almost like a model on a catwalk back into the smoke, which gradually rescinded from the Great Hall and caused the purple tint to slowly fade from the room again. _"I much appreciate the information that you've given me, and I'll be sure to hold off on my storms in your region from now on. Though you really need not worry about that message to Arendelle... I'll be just fine giving it myself."_

Within an instant, the smoke had completely disappeared and the Great Hall was returned to it's usual state, almost as if the mysterious woman and her electric hell hound had not been there at all. The lead speaker looked to the rest of the council, all of them being equally as dumbfounded as he was.

_"Right, so... I think I'll be the first to admit this, everyone, but... that was not how I had expected that meeting to go."_


	5. More Than Just The Spare

Kristoff let a little grin cross his face as he opened the door to the stables, noticing the tired, weary face of his best friend light up a bit as he came in. _"Hey buddy... how you feeling today...?"_

He slumped down next to the reindeer on the floor, slurring his voice as he always did to speak for his old companion. _**"Well I've definitely been better. Did you bring breakfast?"**_

_"Hmm... course I did..."_ Kristoff pulled a carrot from the pocket of his vest, with Sven suddenly receiving a burst of energy as he took the whole thing in his mouth. After a brief moment, Sven stuck half of the carrot back out of his mouth, but Kristoff gently turned down the offer. _"Nah... you go ahead, buddy..."_

"Hey Kristoff? Kristoff?!" It was Anna's voice calling from outside, with Kristoff stroking Sven's head affectionately as he said back. _"In here, Anna!"_

Anna poked her head into the stable door with a smile, slowly walking in to where Kristoff and Sven were sitting. Anna took a gentle grip on one of the reindeer's antlers to steady herself as she sat down with them, reaching into her pocket as she said "I thought he could do with this... me and Elsa always put this on when we're feeling a little on the downside.."

Kristoff's face beamed warmly at the Queen as she pulled out her mother's red Northuldran scarf, placing it over the reindeer as he nodded gratefully. She thought silently for a moment before saying "you know, I think he's looking a little better today. Is he feeling any better?"

_"I think so. Just needs a little more rest, I think."_ Kristoff seemed confident enough as he said this, which prompted Anna to nod silently as they both looked down at Sven. _"Honeymaren's gonna come by and take care of him while we're at the meeting."_

"Yeah. I know." Anna's tone of voice still betrayed a hint of nervousness when Kristoff mentioned the meeting, but she tried her best to remain chipper as she stood up again and headed over to the door. "Well... I better go get ready. They're coming in a couple hours."

_"Right behind you. Just gonna make sure Sven's all cosy in here."_ Kristoff watched as his wife walked out of the stable. He pulled Iduna's scarf further over his old friend's back and made sure the small fireplace they'd had installed in the corner remained nice and warm for him to relax in. Once he'd made sure the room was up to Sven's standards, though the reindeer was hardly one to complain about that sort of thing, Kristoff reluctantly pulled himself towards the door again, taking one last look at the patient, who remained smiling as if to imply that it was okay for him to go.

Kristoff nodded as he closed the door over. _"Yeah, okay... I'll uh... I'll see you later, Sven."_

* * *

All things considered, the meeting had gone incredibly well. Of course, Anna had hosted and attended several of these meetings since she took the throne and they'd all gone similarly well, so at this point she really shouldn't have been surprised about it. Awkward as she thought she was, she was also well-liked by the other leaders and dignitaries, and still considered herself far more of a people person that Elsa could ever be.

It was mid-afternoon when the guests were gathered in the ballroom, with Anna and Kristoff both dipping in and out of casual conversations while Olaf entertained a few of the guests with his amusing anecdotes of the group's past adventures. None of the dignitaries were afraid or hardly even surprised by the presence of a talking snowman anymore, which had to expected through the six years of the world gradually getting used to what Elsa was capable of.

Several times during the party Anna found herself speaking to different guests about her childhood with Elsa, how she felt when she re-learned of her sister's powers and what it was like living with. It often seemed that they saw Anna as more of a spokesperson on behalf of her sister rather than her own person at times, but she didn't really mind at first.

She eventually sat at one table near the middle of the ballroom, recounting their adventure in the Enchanted Forest to an elderly representative from the Eastern Region, along with his thirty-something son and heir. They both seemed incredibly invested in what Anna was telling them, with the son in particular constantly asking questions about the smaller details for Anna to fill in for them.

_"So, if I understand this correctly, your Majesty... your sister's powers were actually a gift from the spirits, as a reward for what your parents did."_

"Uh-huh... yeah, that's right."

_"Fascinating."_ the younger man said with a hand to his chin. _"And where is your sister now then, Queen Anna?"_

"Oh, well she lives in the forest now, just North of here. We still keep in touch, obviously, but... I guess being an elemental spirit isn't really an easy task..." Anna let a little smile cross her face.

The older dignitary chuckled as he drank from his champagne glass. _"With all due respect to your family, Queen Anna... I've always known your grandfather to be a smug old bugger. Ha ha... but I suppose it didn't work out for him in the end."_

"Yes... yes, I suppose it didn't."

_"I almost wish he'd live to see his granddaughters become the epitome of everything he despised. __And for your sister to give up the throne for it, too... oh-ho, the old goat would have furious to have her for an heir, ah ha ha ha..."_ he rested back in the chair as he motioned his glass towards Anna. _"Still... at least they had the spare, eh?"_

"Spare...?" Anna went slightly wide-eyed as she repeated this. The tone of the dignitaries' voice as well as the almost childish chuckle afterwards indicated that what he said was merely meant to be a joke, but she was still taken off-guard by the use of that word as it caused several thoughts to start swirling all at once in the back of her head.

Taking a brief moment to snap herself back to reality, Anna assumed that her face was giving off a worried or offended look, as the younger dignitary glared at his elder and awkwardly muttered _"father!"_ under his breath. It was probably best to end her chat with these dignitaries now, though she would have to carefully salvage the situation or risk creating a scene.

"Right, well um... it was nice talking to you guys... um, again. Ahem..." she cleared her throat as she stood up, wringing her hands together as she started to step back awkwardly. "Oh, is that my husband calling me? Kristoff?! Hey Kristoff, is that you? Oh, you want me to go over there and talk? Okay, yeah, I'll be right there."

The son shook his head in some embarrassment as he looked to his slightly dumbfounded father, a sarcastic and almost bitter tone in his voice. _"Well... that went fantastically, didn't it?"_

* * *

It was around midnight when the guards closed the gates, though the party had wrapped up around sunset with the dignitaries setting off on the ships back to their homelands. The rest of the kingdom were all peacefully nestled in their houses, with the only light sources in the village being the small candles that danced in the streetlamps on the quiet street.

The Queen and her husband were asleep in their bed. Or rather, _Kristoff_ was asleep on the right side of the bed while Anna lay wide awake on the left. She had been so tired getting into bed that she hadn't even bothered to undo the crown twist bun in her hair, but now she couldn't get to sleep no matter how hard she tried. Though she'd tried her best to get it through the night, the words of that old dignitary were still swirling around like a snowstorm in her brain and it was keeping her up.

**_"Still... at least they had the spare, eh? At least they had the spare. The spare. The spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare."_**

It took about an hour of trying to force herself asleep, but these thoughts finally forced Anna out of the bed as she went to the door. She glanced briefly at Kristoff as he stayed asleep in the bed, taking a moment to make sure that she hadn't woken him up before she left the room.

For the next half hour Anna found herself wandering slowly and somewhat aimlessly around the castle. The hallways she walked down were just illuminated with a low golden candlelight, but Anna still felt a slight chill as she crossed her arms similar to how Elsa would do whenever she was nervous or upset. She'd almost wished she hadn't given her mother's scarf to Sven, because now would have probably been a really good time to have it on herself with the thoughts and feelings she was struggling with.

She eventually sat down in front of the family portraits, hoping that looking at them would cheer her up or at least make her feel a little better. Admittedly, she did feel somewhat brighter inside with the nostalgia of the images, one with her and Elsa standing beside their parents on the right and the other with them standing beside Olaf, Kristoff and Sven on the left. The height difference between the sisters as children seemed to be bigger than Anna remembered, though that may have been due to the fact that her five-year-old self was sitting down on a small bench at their mother's feet, but it still made her feel strange inside.

It was impossible for Anna to figure out what this strange feeling actually was, or why she was really feeling like this. Was it doubt? Jealousy? Fear? She just didn't know, but all the while she still couldn't get the dignitary's words out of her head. Anna thought to herself as she stood up, walking towards the paintings and putting her hand to the first, sighing lightly as she kept looking at her younger counterpart.

I'm not part of the town, wasn't born to be Queen  
Just somebody hopelessly... in-between

Anna continued walking right down the hallway, stopping at the next collage of photographs and paintings that had been done of herself and her sister. She beamed with a happy warmth at the sight of Elsa making ice sculptures for the Arendellian children, only for that smile to droop slightly at the portrait of herself pulling funny faces at Olaf.

She's the Snow Queen, loves to show it  
I'm the screw-up... hmm... don't I know it?

She took one of the candles from the table besides her, using it to look to a large portrait that had been painted just after the Great Thaw. Elsa was the centrepiece, with Anna standing and waving in the background. Anna remembered Elsa insisting that the artist include her younger sister, and while this gesture meant a lot to her then it seemed to make her feel even worse now.

But then who could ever compare...?  
Of course they're gonna think I'm just...  
The spare...

Anna took a moment to close her eyes, exhaling as she put the candle back down. She then turned and ran down the stairs to where her father's old uniform was displayed, playfully looking at the details and putting her fingers across them like she used to do as a child.

So I'm the extra button on a coat  
In case another one comes loose  
But if I have to be a button  
Why can't I be a button that's of use

"Oops!"

She frantically tried to catch the top button that she'd knocked off, eventually getting a hold of it but still not having any idea where it actually came from on the coat. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, though that wasn't worth the effort seeing that everyone else was asleep, Anna carefully placed the loose button on top of the mannequin as she stepped backwards, not noticing her mother's dress lagging behind her foot.

I may lack style and I may lack grace  
And once in a while I fall on my face!

**"GAH!" **She just managed to catch herself as the dress tripped her up, running towards the window and throwing it open as she ran to the balcony and yelled out into the air.

**But this little button deserves a place in the sky!**  
**This button wants to fly!**

"Wait, buttons can't fly, that doesn't make _any_ sense... um... ooh!" Anna suddenly took off out of the castle and ran toward Sven's stable, surprising the resting reindeer as she barged in and ran to the dormant blacksmith's forge.

So I'm a rusty horseshoe hanging up  
Over somebody's stable door  
And I've been hanging there forever  
Just wishing the horse had one leg more

And maybe I can't be the perfect one  
And maybe I lean on the side of fun  
But horseshoes need a chance to run somewhere

**"HEEYAH!"** She threw the small, rusty horseshoe out of the stable, letting it hook perfectly around one of the streetlamps. Anna and Sven were both surprised by this, prompting Anna to hug the reindeer tight as she planted a kiss on his forehead.

**This horseshoe is more than just a spare!**

Anna closed the door to the stable to let Sven sleep, standing in the centre of the village as she looked up at the castle. The sheer enormity of the palace seemed especially apparent from the angle she was at, to the point where Anna could have easily forgotten that she not only lived in this castle, but was the _Queen_ of it.

But here I've found my thing  
A thing that's all my own  
Right here I know I'm part of something  
Not just all alone

If only all these feelings  
I have in my heart  
Could just let me be happy  
Cause I love to play my part

She felt her usual enthusiasm and joy swell back into her heart as she headed back up the steps to the castle. She was so overwhelmed with excitement that she actually hopped up with her fists in the air once she reached the top step in front of the door.

So I'm not just the second-born sister  
That most of the town ignores

Like a button, like a horseshoe  
Like a girl who's bad at metaphors

And maybe I don't have a magic touch  
And maybe I don't have a talent as such

Just this heart with much too much to share...

As she reached the door Anna turned back to look at the rest of the kingdom. _Her_ kingdom, _her_ home and _her_ people, all safe under her lead. She nodded confidently as she threw the doors open behind herself and walked backwards into the castle.

**But I'm more than just the spaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaare!**

_**"AAAAGGGH!"**_ The table came out of nowhere from behind Anna as she slammed the doors shut, spiralling over backwards as she fell to the floor and tried to stop the objects from clattering down with her. She had at least managed to save the more breakable objects such as the glasses and plates from shattering on the floor, but still ended up with a fondue pot full of melted chocolate over her head.

Sufficed to say, this was _not_ how she had intended to end her big moment. "Ugh... aw man..."


	6. Queen Of The Storm - Round One

**"Do the magic. Do the magic!"**

Elsa chuckled to herself as she sat back to watch the vision of her younger self playing with Anna in the ballroom, having to swallow something in her throat as she watched them building their old snowman together for the first time.

_**"Hi I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs."**_

**"I love you, Olaf!"**

Despite the trauma that her mind had once associated with this fateful night, these moments had gradually become some of Elsa's favourite memories to look back on, and she often found herself rewatching them every time she visited Ahtohallan. Despite the fact that they were encased entirely in colourless white snow, like slowly moving sculptures that were frozen in time, she could vividly remember even the tiniest of details from the real events that weren't even present in these simulations.

In past visits she'd spent hours on end looking through all the old memories of herself and Anna together, more often than not ending up an emotional wreck by the time she was finished. But Elsa hadn't bothered with going on a total binge-watch of them today, since she was mostly trying to get her mind off where Anna would have been right now.

_"She's doing fine... yeah... she's doing fine."_ Elsa had spent most of the day trying to reassure herself of this, during her morning talk with Honeymaren, her midday ride on the _Nøkk _and finally when she arrived at Ahtohallan in the afternoon. On the inside she was practically kicking herself for telling Anna that she was going first-thing, but while she hated to lie to her sister as an excuse get out of public arrangements, she was also confident that Anna was indeed doing fine during the meeting with the other leaders, as she'd always done in the past.

Anna was a good Queen. Elsa knew that, and she was just about sure that everyone else in the kingdom did, though it saddened her whenever Anna's words or behaviour indicated that she herself wasn't so sure of it. Though she'd spent most of the day trying not to think about her sister, Elsa found the majority of her thoughts still went to Anna, and how she would have been feeling without her older sister there.

_**"I just... I just wanted to be special..."**_

**"Special?! What were you thinking! Look at yourself, you've become a monster!"**

_**"Brother, I... I'm sorry, but..."**_

**"Berit... BERIT!"**

Elsa was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of new voices echoing from somewhere deep in the mist. She'd never heard these voices before, but they were grew louder as the mist came closer, indicating that the river wanted her to look at whatever this was. Obliging with a soft little "okay" under her breath, Elsa stopped the vision of her childhood memories as she stood up and walked towards the mist.

She slowly made her way into the fog, squinting slightly as she tried to hear what the voices were saying. She jolted back a bit at the brief sound of screams coming from the same general direction, taking a moment of hesitation before she finally emerged into the cavern that the mist had led her to.

**_"Six years since Arendelle cut you off, I'd have thought this little merchant isle would have at least made a bit more progress."_**

The sculpture showed a large circular table, surrounded by six people including a figure that Elsa recognised (with an amused little scoff) as the Duke of Weselton. A seventh figure stood away from the rest of the group, wearing a hood that covered her face but speaking in a voice that was clearly female. **_"For quite some time I've been intrigued by rumours of an Arendellian princess, born on a Winter Solstice with the power to create ice and snow..."_**

_"What the...?" _Elsa got in front of the figure, trying to get a look at her face but being unable to with the hood in the way. She looked up to the ceiling as if asking Ahtohallan itself. _"When is this from? Who even is this?"_

The hooded figure suddenly turned away from the rest of the table, saying **"_you really need not worry about that message to Arendelle... I'll be just fine giving it myself."_**

_"Wait... Arendelle...?"_ Elsa took a moment to think about this, going wide-eyed with a gasp of horror as she looked back to the mist. _**"ANNA!"**_

Within a minute Elsa was running to the shore of Ahtohallan as fast as her legs could carry her, whistling to summon the _Nøkk_ as she swung herself onto the back of her watery steed. _"Back to Arendelle! **He-yah!**"_

* * *

Anna was humming a tune to herself as she came back up the stairs, having washed the chocolate off of herself and re-braided her hair back into it's usual plaits. It had been about an hour since she got out of bed and the walk had made her sleepy again, which gave her a bit of hope that she'd actually get to sleep this time. She was also glad that she hadn't made too much of a mess in the ballroom earlier, or at least not one that couldn't be easily explained.

**_Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkk..._** she froze on the spot as she heard the creak. For a moment she considered that it may have come from her own foot on the floor, but the noise had continued for a few seconds after she'd stopped to indicate it was someone else's footstep that had caused it.

Anna slowly looked to her left, noticing that she was standing directly in front of the door to the portrait room, which she remembered had a creaky floorboard in the back corner ever since she'd dropped one of Elsa's giant snowballs onto it as a child. The creaking sounded again, and Anna was certain that one of two things had to be true.

Either the sleep deprivation was causing her mind to play tricks on her, or there was someone in the portrait room. And it was feeling more and more like the latter with every passing second. Taking the sword from the Knight Armour that was positioned a few feet away, Anna quickly pressed herself against the door, trying to be stealthy as she slowly and silently pushed the door open a few degrees.

**"RAAAGHH!"** she kicked the door open and threw herself into the room, standing in a battle ready stance as she raised the sword. To her surprise, the room was mostly dark, being only slightly illuminated by the two candles on the mantle piece just above the fireplace. The only one who actually seemed to be in the room was Olaf, who was fast asleep on the couch with a blanket over himself as he snored peacefully.

Anna exhaled a subtle sigh of relief as she lowered her weapon, casually dragging it on the floor in her right hand as she went over to the mantel piece to put out the two candles. She puckered her lips so she could blow them both out, stopping herself as she glanced up at the familiar old painting positioned above her head.

"Hmm... hang in there, Joan..."

_"Oh of course... Joan of Arc! Ha ha... I thought she looked familiar!"_

Anna jolted around with the sword raised again, staring right into the darkness where the stranger's voice had suddenly come from. She grabbed one of the candles from behind her, holding it up to try and spot whoever it was. "Who's there?!"

It took a few seconds, but she soon spotted the tall, slender silhouette standing behind the couch. Anna held the candle closer to illuminate the figure, just barely revealing the hooded woman as she held a mug in her hand, filling it with the teapot that she'd taken from the desk behind her.

_"Oh I hope you don't mind..."_ she snarked playfully as she put down the teapot, briefly swishing her mug from side to side in her other hand as she glanced inside it. _"You see I've had quite a busy day and, well... you know what that's like, I'm sure..."_

_**Zzzap!** _Anna tensed with her eyes shut for a split-second as the woman suddenly pointed out her free hand, sending out a small bolt of golden electricity that flew straight past the Queen and landed in the fireplace to set the logs alight. This helped to illuminate the room a little more and gave Anna a better view of the leather-clad figure as she casually strolled around the couch, facing Anna directly in front of the fireplace as she drank from the mug.

_"So... Queen Ann-a."_ the woman slouched back on the small seat behind her, with the smug, almost mocking smirk on her lips suggesting that her mispronunciation of Anna's name was fully intentional._ "Am I saying that right, dear? Ann-a, Ah-na, Anya, Annie... what do you prefer?"_

"Who are you?" Anna interrupted as she kept the sword pointed at the woman, who put her hand over her chest as she feigned surprise.

_"Ah yes. Of course. Allow me to... introduce myself."_ she pulled down her hood, causing Anna to go wide-eyed as she saw the face underneath.

The shape of the thirty year-old's face was at just about the midpoint between round and pointed, while her pale, almost ghost-like skin helped to accentuate the dark purple lipstick and eye shadow that she wore, as well as the piercing yet also somewhat youthful green eyes that remained directly focused on Anna. The most notable feature on her face was the long, purple-coloured lightning bolt shape emblazoned over her left eye, though Anna couldn't tell if this was a scar, a tattoo or something else entirely. She was also taken off-guard by the state of the woman's hair, which along being messily cropped into a short pixie cut was also coloured a deep, clearly unnatural shade of purple.

_"The few who have had the pleasure of meeting me call me the Queen of the Storm."_ she smugly said as she looked at her fingernails, chuckling to herself as she took another drink from her mug. _"Though I suppose if those few had lived to tell the tale, that nickname would have caught on a lot sooner."_

The woman heard Anna gulp briefly as she said this, resting her head back on the seat as she added _"though I suppose... you may call me Berit, if you wish... somewhat friendlier terms, eh?"_

"Hmm... friendlier terms..." they both glanced at Olaf as he muttered to himself in his sleep, blissfully unaware of what was going on right next to him.

Berit seemed especially interested in the snowman as she glared at him, looking back to Anna as she said _"I have to admit... that's quite a feat to pull off for your first trick. It was an accident building him, wasn't it? Some old... childhood memory you were trying to recreate, if I remember correctly..."_

Anna remained silent for about five seconds, prompting Berit to roll her eyes as she scoffed to herself, a sarcastic tone getting into her voice as she continued. _"Oh of course, of course... sorry, my mistake... you're the ordinary one, aren't you?"_

Berit could tell by Anna's face turning red that she'd touched a nerve then, grinning as she decided to keep pushing. _"But I suppose, even if you're not... you know, special, you shared similar experiences in upbringing, what with you both being locked away like animals... hmm... and I thought I had lousy parents."_

"They were trying to protect us."

_"And look where that got them."_

Anna was taken off-guard by this remark, struggling to hold back a more angry, volatile reaction as she tightened her grip on the sword. Berit raised an eyebrow at this, casually leaning herself forwards a bit as she tossed aside the now empty mug.

_"Right, well... I'm not going to beat around the bush much more with you, Anna." _her face straightened into a more serious expression. _"I'm here for your sister."_

Anna almost felt herself freezing on the spot again as her eyes widened slightly, glaring daggers at Berit as she continued. _"I've heard quite a few wonderful stories of what she can do. That Eternal Winter she pulled off at her coronation is an especially impressive achievement. But that barely scratches the surface of what she's truly capable of... and that's why you're going to tell me where she is, or else I'll just have to resort to the..."_

**"Never!" **Anna regained her confident tone as she stepped forward another pace, bringing the sword even closer to Berit's still-smirking face. **"You're not going anywhere near my sister while I have anything to say about it... we're a family, and we've protected each other against much worse than a crazy lady with sparkle fingers!"**

_"Ah ha ha ha ha... ugh... deary me... sparkle fingers... **PAH!**"_ Berit scoffed as she pulled herself out of the seat, effortlessly swatting the sword away with the back of her hand and causing Anna to fall back unarmed. Anna was somewhat intimidated by the six to eight inch height difference between Berit and herself, wheezing defencelessly as Berit gripped her by the neck and lifted her off the floor.

She flailed her arms around as she struggled to escape, which merely amused Berit as she kept her grip just loose enough for the Queen to breathe. The stronger woman smirked as she titled her head slightly downwards to the right, looking Anna in the face as she said _"hmm... you know, back when I was a little girl, I was a lot like you..."_

"Oh yeah..." Anna's voice was strained slightly due to the grip on her throat, but she still kept her hands gripped on Berit's forearm. "How so?"

_"I was a younger sibling growing up, you know the drill... the weak link, the nobody... the spare."_ Berit smirked a bit when she saw Anna's reaction to her words, but the bitter sarcasm in her tone calmed down a bit when she continued. _"But I found myself a new purpose. And now I'm happier than ever because of it."_

She opened her other hand, letting the sharp, jagged sparks of lightning start to emanate from her palm as she brought it closer to Anna's face as the latter's eyes started to widen again. _"So I'll reiterate my request. Tell me where your sister is."_

"She doesn't live here anymore! She moved out!" Anna felt the grip on her neck getting tighter, shutting one eye as she waited for the bolts to electrocute her.

_"I know where she isn't, Anna... now I want you to tell me... where... she... **ARGH!**" _Berit released Anna from her grip as a powerful blast of ice sent her straight through the wall behind her, prompting Olaf to wake up with a scream of fright. Anna fell to her knees clutching her own throat as she let the air fill her lungs again, turning around to see the familiar face that pulled her to her feet.

**"Elsa?!" **Anna exhaled with relief as her sister ran to the fresh hole in the wall, looking out of it to see another hole on the roof below them as Kristoff stood in the doorway.

_"She's in the ballroom... stay behind me!"_ Elsa ordered in an almost militant tone as she clenched her fists, the others all obliging as they quickly followed her out of the portrait room and down the stairs.

* * *

Berit grunted with a painful wince as she pulled herself out of the rubble, taking a moment to casually admire the ballroom as she got back on her feet and dusted off her clothes. She turned to main entrance of the room as she spotted the group coming in, keeping her eyes particularly fixated on Elsa with a smirk.

_"Well-well-well... ask and you shall rece-**UGH!**"_

The Snow Queen wasted no time hitting Berit with another blast of ice, and another, and another and another while Anna shouted **"yeah! Go get her, sis!"**

Berit was forced onto one knee by the constant, relentless barrage as Elsa got closer with each attack, only to suddenly throw her hands forwards and send several bolts of her jagged lightning that ricocheted off of Elsa's next strike and went flying off in all directions of the ballroom. _**ZZZAAAAP!**_

**"Heads up!"** Olaf shouted as Anna tackled his body out of the way of a bolt, with Kristoff just managing to grab the snowman's head as the three of them hid behind an upturned table. A brief glance at this allowed Elsa to accept that her family was at least somewhat out of harm's way, turning back to Berit as she prepared to deal a game-ending blow.

_**"HUUUUURRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!"**_

She clapped her hands together to deliver a massive, devastating blast that sent Berit flying backwards several dozen feet. The sheer size and power behind this snowy shockwave encased the entire room in sharp aberrations of ice, shattering all of the windows and toppling every piece of furniture still in the room, including the table that Olaf's models were being kept on.

When the snow and smoke had started to clear, Anna, Olaf and Kristoff all peeked their heads up from their hiding place, trailing behind Elsa as she limped her way out of the ballroom towards the main doorway of the castle.

Berit was sitting slumped in front of the still-closed doors, with the noises she was making being an odd mix of exhausted panting and hysterical laughter as she saw Elsa coming towards her. _"Y... you... you are impressive, you really are..."_

Elsa put her foot to the woman's chest to pin her against the door. _"If you **ever** come near my sister again, I'll._.."

_"Yes-yes, that... that was quite a cheap thing to do, wasn't it?"_ Berit interrupted as she took Elsa's foot off her chest and pulled herself up, a smug grin forming back on her face as she kept her hands behind her back.

_"But I think we can both admit that neither of us are... quite in the right shape to continue this tonight... I'm afraid... we'll have to just **reschedule!**"_

Berit cackled like a witch as the bolts from her hands sent the front doors flying off their hinges. She ran out of the castle as the others frantically tried to get hold of her, summoning more bolts from her hands and feet that lifted her off the ground and up into the dense, purple fog that was forming in the sky above.

Elsa glared with her fists clenched as the purple mist floated up into the sky with Berit on top of it, as the latter's sarcastic little wave caused the ground beneath her feet to turn to solid ice with the rage bubbling inside of her.

**_"Whenever you're up for Round 2, just follow the path of the Northern Lights!"_** Berit called down to Elsa as she finally disappeared into the mist. _**"I'll be ready when you are!"**_


	7. Reindeers Are Better Than People

The dawn was beginning to break over the kingdom, though the majority of the people had been rudely awakened a few hours before by the sounds of lightning strikes and the cackling threats of some kind of weather witch. The stage on the castle's courtyard that had been used during the performance at the festival now had a long table placed onto it, Anna standing in the centre with Kristoff, Olaf and Mattias on her right and Elsa, Honeymaren and Yelena on her left.

**_"Who is she?! What does she want with Arendelle?! Look what she did to the castle! What are we going to do?!"_**

"Alright, everyone just... ugh... okay, please, just one question at a time! Come on!"

Anna was frantically pulling on both her braids as her voice continued to be lost in the panicking crowd of anxious Northuldra and Arendellians that were gathered in front of the stage. Eventually getting fed up with all of the commotion, Elsa rolled her eyes as she walked in front of Anna, sharp icicles forming under her feet as she bellowed out **_"QUIET!"_**

The people quickly did as they were told, which prompted Elsa to blush a bit as she calmed herself down again, causing the spikes of ice to melt as she returned to her original position at the table. _"Sorry, it just... ahem... the Queen is trying to say something. So I suggest we hear her out..."_

Elsa looked at her sister with a confident little grin, prompting Anna to nod as she took centre stage again and everyone stopped to listen to her. She sighed as she leaned forward, propping herself up with her hands flat down on the table. "Alright, look... we don't know who this Berit lady is... but we _have_ seen what she can do. All we know for certain is that she's _not_ somebody we can mess around with. And we can't rush into anything until we find out as much as we can about her."

_"I'm with the Queen!"_ Mattias added. _"This isn't a kind of enemy that we've faced before, so it's imperative that we don't underestimate her."_

_"I say the first thing we need to do is figure out the source of her magic."_ Kristoff said, adding _"you know, maybe... maybe she has has some kind of weakness, and we might be able to use it against her."_

Elsa and Anna both nodded, before Olaf cut in to say "yeah, but... do we have any idea where exactly we're supposed to go looking for that?"

A slightly awkward silence fell over the seven of them for a moment, before Elsa turned to her left as she said _"Yelena. Is it possible that she's another spirit? Like me?"_

The Northuldra leader shook her head. "I don't know, but our ancestor's only spoke of four. Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Even before we learned you were the fifth, Elsa, our legends have no mention of lightning."

"It's true." Honeymaren added as she looked up to the sky. "That power she has, whatever it is, it... it's not natural."

"Right..." Anna thought for a moment to herself, before going wide-eyed as a voice shouted "Kristoff!"

The crowd all parted as Ryder and two other Northuldra ran towards the stage, about to open his mouth to speak before Anna cut him off. "Just a sec, Ryder, I need to say something."

"Yeah, but... but it's..."

**"It can wait!" **Anna hadn't meant to snap at Ryder, but he remained quiet as she looked to the rest of the crowd and finally spoke up. "I think... I think what we need to do now is just stay put, and..."

_"What about when she comes back?!"_ one of the people in the crowd called out, which caused a smaller amount of murmuring to break out amongst the people. Anna put up her hand, silencing them all as Elsa spoke up.

_"**If** she comes back and attacks again, we'll be more ready for her now than we were before."_ Elsa said. _"But we need to come up with an actual plan before we go out there. And if fate's on our side, we'll be able to take the fight to her before she brings it back to us."_

"Elsa's right." Anna smiled at the rest of the group on the table as they nodded in agreement, before she looked back to the rest of the crowd to close the meeting. "The seven of us will reconvene when we've found a new strategy that we can all agree on. Everyone else, just stay home and stay together. We're going to do whatever it takes to stop this enemy, and keep Arendelle safe!"

It took a moment for anyone else to answer, but the nods and murmurings in the crowd seemed to be more-or-less accepting of what the council had proposed. The people disbanded as they all started heading back to their houses, while the council stepped down from the stage to prepare a private meeting inside the castle.

Elsa gently put her hand on Anna's shoulder, squeezing it affectionately as she said _"hey... you did great up there, sis..."_

"Hmm... thanks, Elsa." Anna beamed lovingly at her sister, before they both looked to see Honeymaren talking to the very distraught Ryder as she pulled her brother into a tight embrace.

"Ryder? Hey, um..." Anna took his hand as he pulled away from Honeymaren, wondering if was her bluntness that had made him so upset. "Look, I'm really sorry about back then, I just... well, you know... so what was it you wanted to say?"

"It..." Ryder was still hyperventilating as he tried to fight back tears, while Kristoff, Elsa and Olaf all stood behind Anna. "It's Sven!"

* * *

Kristoff clumsily pushed past the Northuldra members that were standing in the door of the stable, freezing at the sight of Sven sitting curled up in the corner next to the fireplace.

He still had Iduna's scarf over his back and seemed peaceful enough, though his breathing was also the heaviest they'd ever heard, occasionally interrupted by an intense, spluttering cough. He had Kristoff's lute positioned upright next to the fireplace and there was a bowl of water with a plate full of carrots that some of the Northuldra children had left, but he'd barely touched any of them.

Elsa, Anna and Olaf all stood in the doorway as the Northuldra members slowly walked out, with Honeymaren putting her hand on Elsa's shoulder as Anna and Olaf joined Kristoff at Sven's side. "We're gonna give you some time to say your goodbyes."

_"Yeah, thanks for... wait... goodbyes...?"_ Elsa felt her heart drop like a rock in her chest as she heard this, with Honeymaren's reluctant little nod only worsening the feeling of dread that she'd been trying to hold off since Ryder had come. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she attempted to process the information, taking a moment before she let out a weak little exhale. _"Okay... thank you, Honey."_

Honeymaren left with the others, closing the door behind her as Elsa joined Anna, Olaf and Kristoff as they all sat by Sven. Kristoff rubbed his old friend's head as the latter mooed weakly at him, having to wipe his eyes as he tried to sound happy. _"Hey buddy... so I guess it... I guess it's nearly time, huh?"_

"Nearly time for what?" Olaf's saddened though still slightly curious tone of voice was hard for the others to decipher as Elsa brought him closer to her and Anna. One couldn't tell if he genuinely hadn't processed what was coming, or if he was fully aware of it and just wanted some kind of comfort.

Elsa held onto Anna's right hand, both of them being misty-eyed as they looked down at the snowman. Neither of the sisters was entirely sure how to go about this, but Anna decided to go first. "Olaf, Sven is um... you know Sven's not been feeling great these last few months..."

Olaf nodded, with the expressions on his face indicating that he was already putting together what she was getting to, before Elsa choked for a moment as she added her piece. _"Yeah, and... well it's time for Sven to... to be, um... to be going away... you know... that kind of away."_

"Away... right... right..." Olaf had a sullen tone in his voice as he slowly moved himself over to Sven's face, narrowly avoiding the reindeer's teeth as they playfully tried to grab the snowman's nose. He wrapped his two stick arms around the top of Sven's neck, holding him close as he felt a few tears coming out of his eyes. "I bet they have nice big fields up there, Sven... remember to have a lot of fun, okay?"

The reindeer mooed softly in agreement as Olaf pulled away, standing back to let Elsa and Anna say their farewell next. Elsa pulled their mother's scarf further over his back while Anna tried to find her words. "Well, you um... you were, ugh... you were a good reindeer, Sven. The best there ever was."

_"And so much more than that..." _Elsa lightly stroked the bridge of Sven's nose with her index finger, just as Iduna would do when putting them to bed as girls. _"You've been a loving companion, a loyal ally... and a... and a great friend."_

_"The best there ever was..." _Kristoff repeated Anna's words, only to go wide-eyed as Sven moved his head towards the fireplace. The reindeer took the old wooden lute in his teeth, bringing his head back over to the others and laying it down in front of Kristoff's feet. Anna and Elsa both chuckled at this, with Anna sighing with a smile as she said "looks like someone wants to have a little musical number... any suggestions?"

Kristoff sighed as he wiped his eye with the back of his hand, struggling to find his words as he picked his lute from off the floor, trying to piece together their old signature duet, one last time. He hesitated for another moment or two before the little encouraging nod from Sven prompted him to start, though his voice was still strained by his crying. _"Reindeers are... are better than... ugh..."_

Anna gently took his free hand as she nodded at her husband. He let a weak little grin out at Anna, before she wrapped her other arm around Sven's body and suddenly started singing in his place.

Reindeers are better than people  
Sven, don't you think that's true?

Almost instinctively strumming his lute along with her words, Kristoff was both overjoyed and shocked that Anna was doing this, only becoming even more shocked when Elsa brought herself closer to Anna, stroking the top of Sven's head as she started singing too.

_Cause people will beat you_  
_And curse you and cheat you_

The little nods they gave were enough encouragement for Kristoff to finally join in, slurring his voice to speak for Sven as the others all beamed at him with a warm, nostalgic joy. Anna had always loved hearing Kristoff speak for his reindeer like this, ever since she'd first heard them in the barn those six long years ago, and she had to stifle a laugh through her crying as he did it here again.

**_Everyone of them's bad  
Except you_**

Olaf now joined a very teary-eyed Anna and Elsa as the three of them continued singing the next verse, though they were sure to let Kristoff and Sven sing alone for their response.

**But people smell better than reindeers**  
**Sven, don't you think that's right?**

**_That's once again true_**  
**_For all except you_**

**You got that**  
**Let's call it a night**

**_Goodnight_**

Elsa sang alone as she conjured up a tiny dusting of snowflakes that slowly descended over Sven's smiling face, with her and the others all holding the old reindeer close in a tight group hug.

_And don't let the frostbite_  
_Bite..._

They were all laughing when they paused the singing, with Elsa having to wipe the tears off her face with the back of her hand while Olaf sat nestled between her and Anna. It seemed like an eternity had passed since all five of them had done something together like this, and any thoughts of Berit or the deterioration of the old reindeer seemed to fade away as they just enjoyed one another's company. For just a moment, everything seemed perfect, just how it was meant to be.

The happy mood was suddenly cut down out of nowhere when Sven let out another violently spluttering cough. He calmed down after about thirty seconds as he lay his head to the floor again, though the sullen, almost empty look in his eyes dragged the rest of them back down to the harshness of reality again. The others stayed silent as Kristoff strummed the stings of his lute a final time, trying not to choke up as he started his last line.

_Reindeers are... are better than people...  
Sven... boy, I just don't know..._

He was reluctant to finish the next verse, but the little winnie that the old reindeer gave almost sounded like a demand to do so. Kristoff still hesitated, before Sven used all the strength he had left to pull himself closer to his old friend, resting his head on Kristoff's lap and smiling as he gently closed his eyes.

**_Such fun times we've had  
Don't be glum now, be glad_**  
**_It's okay, Kristoff_**  
**_Just... let... me..._**

_"Go..."_ Kristoff's voice broke a bit through his tears, feeling the subtle beating of his friend's heart getting slower and slower until it had stopped completely. He found himself reduced to a crying, blubbering mess as he buried his tearstained face in the furry neck of his passed companion, while Elsa and Olaf both let their eyes stream uncontrollably as Anna buried her own face in Sven's chest.

All four of them must have been sat there in that tight embrace for a good half hour, not saying a single word as they let the loss sink in and the grief held them all together. It almost felt as if a massive tear had been pulled open in their family fabric, as they slowly processed that their band of five was now just a band of four.

* * *

The outskirts of Arendelle led to a green field on the very edge of the fjord, where the large gravestones of both Queen Iduna and King Agnarr had stood for almost a decade now. It was around midday when a slightly grey mist settled over the valley, while the four went up there accompanied by the Northuldra and their reindeer.

The Northuldra sang a calm, soothing Yolk that the Arendellians had heard the day the mist was lifted, when Sven led the valley's reindeers in a celebratory circle on their freed land. They continued their song as Kristoff and Anna stepped towards the two larger gravestones, putting together a smaller pile of rocks right between the two royals.

The final stone was a rectangle shape, with a large name and a smaller message enscribed upon it. Kristoff gently placed it on top of the pile as Anna knelt down with him, the pair of them holding tightly to each other as they looked at the grave they had built.

**_For Sven, a loyal reindeer._**  
**_May you run free forever, Old Friend_**

A sudden rumbling on the ground prompted another panicked cry from the Northuldra listening, with Elsa holding Olaf close as all of them turned to see a familiar avalanche of familiar rocks rolling towards them. Kristoff and Anna stood up with Elsa and Olaf as the crowd parted for the trolls, while Pabbie unfurled himself in front of the four of them.

**_"You have our condolences for Sven, Kristoff..."_ **he said in a warm tone as Bulda hugged her son comfortingly, before he sternly looked at the sisters. **_"But we must discuss what lies ahead for you."_**


	8. Strategy - Surprises

The guards closed the doors to the palace as Pabbie stood on top of a large circular table in the council chamber, with the sisters and their allies standing around it as he sent his colourful visions into the air for them all to see. Olaf had left the room for a reason that he'd neglected to mention, though the others presumed that he was just trying to get his worried little mind off of Sven's passing and Berit's threats.

_**"Last night I sensed a strange magic from this place."**_ Pabbie spoke in a foreboding tone as the crest of Arendelle's flag appeared in the visuals. _**"A forbidden art I thought I would never see again."**_

_"Wait... again?" _Kristoff was the first to say this, though everyone's faces indicated that they were just as surprised. Pabbie nodded as he went back to his visions, showing the shapes of trolls arriving in what would eventually become the valley of the Living Rock. **_"Our tribe have watched over this island for centuries, and we have spent that time observing and practising all forms of magic that we discover. Though some... have proven harder to understand than others."_**

The vision briefly took the shape of the Northuldra's five spirit snowflake, which suddenly disintegrated into the form of a large, purple lightning bolt. _**"I was only a young troll when our tribe discovered the power of the Storm, though we never had the chance to prepare for the great danger that it was capable of."**_

Pabbie's eyes sank a bit as the purple lightning bolt changed into the shape of a troll with the same lightning coming from it's hands and legs. _**"A potions master of our tribe attempted to harness it's untapped potential, but the greed and pride in his heart allowed him to become corrupted by it's influence, and he used the power to wreak havoc against our people."**_

A few of the others looked away as the vision suddenly encased the whole room in a bright light, followed by the echoing sounds of screams and a deep voice laughing maniacally. **_"Many lives were lost..."_** Pabbie had a regretful tone in his voice as the light rescinded, with the vision now showing the same troll on his knees.

**_"When it's raw power proved too great for this rogue warlock to control, he was banished from the valley, and the formula he devised to master the Storm was removed from all our scriptures, while all those that knew it were lost to the sands of time."_**

"Wow..." Anna was the only one that had managed to say anything at this, taking a moment to look to Pabbie as she added "wait, so... if no one alive knows this formula anymore, how did Berit learn to master it?"

_**"Hmm... let me see what I can see..."**_

Pabbie squinted his eyes as he conjured another vision, with him and everyone else struggling to interpret the unfamiliar imagery that was appearing in it. Several images appeared one after another and looped back again several times, starting with the blue silhouette of two children running which then transformed into the bright yellow shape of a wolf followed finally by a green symbol that caught Mattias' eyes.

_"Wait... Torden?!"_ he said under his breath, getting Anna and Elsa's attention as they turned to face him.

"What did you just say, General?" Anna asked, prompting Mattias to point to the symbol as Pabbie brought it back. The shape of the crest seemed to take the form of a circular shield, with the shape of a sword in the middle and two symmetrical wolf heads positioned on either side.

_"This... this symbol here, it... it's the official crest to the Royal Family of Torden." _he explained, though he seemed somewhat surprised by the confused looks on everyone else's face. _"You know, Torden... they're a neighbouring kingdom, about two days travel on the path of the Northern Lights. Before Arendelle reestablished itself under Runeard, Torden was the most powerful monarchy this side of the Northern Hemisphere."_

Elsa and Anna were both dumbfounded, with Elsa scratching her head as she tried to think. _"Another kingdom? But I... ugh... how come we've never heard of it?"_

Mattias shrugged in equal confusion, before they all looked back to Pabbie as more images began to appear, all of them swirling around at a rapid pace to the point where it was hard to make any of them out, before they finally took the shape of a familiar female figure. **_"I... I sense it again... I sense her."_**

**"Berit! She's coming?!"** Anna gasped as she shot up like a panicked bullet while the others all tensed back, thought their terror was somewhat reassured as Pabbie spoke again.

**_"No, she..."_ **Pabbie conjured another vision, this time showing the same figure sitting on a tall throne as lightnings bolt went off around it. _**"She... she's waiting..."**_

"Waiting?" Anna raised an eyebrow as they all looked at the vision. "Waiting for what?"

_**"It seems that she waits... for a worthy opponent."**_

_"A worthy opponent..."_ Elsa repeated this under her breath as she could sense everyone else glancing at her, turning away from the table as she thought to herself for a moment. Anna noticed this, before Elsa looked back in their direction as she spoke up.

Elsa had her arms crossed on her chest as she held her biceps, like she always did when she was nervous, or upset, or just in really deep thoughts._ "When... when she was leaving last night, Berit said to follow the path of the Northern Lights. And if that's where Torden is, then... then maybe it's where she is, too..."_

"Oh yeah... she did say that..." Anna briefly looked back to the map on the table, putting her finger on the marking of Arendelle and slowly tracing it across the sheet where the aurora usually danced in the sky.

_"Hmm..." _Kristoff thought for a moment as he put his hand to his chin, stroking his beard as he came upon his conclusion. _"So... I guess she wants us to go out looking for her."_

_"Not us..."_ Elsa suddenly said. _"Me."_

"What?!" This prompted Anna to get back up from the table, almost aggressively taking her sister's hand tight as she sternly said "Elsa, no!"

_"Anna, I'm the one she wants. She said that herself."_

"Well last time you went off on your own like that, you ended up..."

**_"Okay! I didn't say I was going alone!"_** Elsa's voice had an almost whiny tone as she interrupted. _"I just... ugh... I just said that's what Berit wants me to do."_

"And Berit probably wants you to follow her right into a trap! Doing what she wants is the exact opposite of what we _should_ be doing, Elsa!" Anna pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh, taking a moment to calm down before she looked back to her sister again. "Ugh... look, you can't do this alone. _We_ have to do this. Both of us. All of us."

Elsa nodded slowly. _"I know, Anna... it's just... I'm the one she's after, and if anything happened to you guys, I'd..."_

"Nothing's gonna happen if we stick together, sis." Anna tried to get a smile, but still had a serious tone in her voice as she spoke. "We have to do this as a family, Elsa. There's no other way."

_"Yeah... you're right, Anna, you... you're totally right..."_ Elsa looked back to the others on the table as Anna walked over to it.

"So it's settled, then..." Anna said authoritatively as she placed her hands on the table. "We follow the path of the Northern Lights, to find the kingdom of Torden. And that's where we stop Berit."

**"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!"** a familiar high-pitched shriek suddenly cut through the silence like a knife, alerting everyone to turn to face it as it emanated from the ballroom.

_**"Olaf!"**_

* * *

Elsa, Anna and Kristoff all frantically darted down the stairs, almost crashing into each other as they stopped in the centre of the ballroom. They saw Olaf sitting silently in the centre of the still iced over room, facing away from them as he held something in his arms. A brief noise from the other side of the room briefly caught Elsa's attention, but this moment of suspicion passed quickly as they all went over to him.

_"Olaf? Hey... you okay?" _Elsa said this in a soft, gentle tone as she and Anna slowly got closer to him, though he didn't answer with words as he kept his head drooped miserably. Anna and Elsa weren't sure why at first, but both their eyes widened with a gasp as they saw what he was holding. _"Oh Olaf..."_

Kristoff walked over as well as they saw that Olaf was keeping the main tower of his model castle clutched tight to his chest, with the rest of it lying in thousands of small, icy shards that were scattered across the floor and the many toppled tables around them. Anna was the first to kneel down next to him, with Elsa still hesitating as she realised that this happened because of her final strike against Berit.

"Well, um... at least I saved the top part... see?" he held it up for them to look at the piece in his hands. His tone of voice was clearly trying to stay optimistic, but was still somewhat shrouded in a cloud of melancholy gloom.

As Anna placed her hand on Olaf's back, she looked at her foot to notice Elsa's old reading glasses on the floor, but no remains of the model that she'd given them to. Nevertheless, she picked the spectacles up, holding them in her hand as she looked at the still saddened snowman.

"I'm sorry, Olaf." her tone of voice was soft and comforting. "I mean, if... if we knew Berit was gonna be in here, we... we'd have definitely moved it out of the way in time..."

"Yeah, I know, it's just... this is where it all started." Olaf's tone was even sadder as he looked up at the ballroom around them. "This is where you guys built me for the first time... I... I thought it'd be nice to have them all here... hmm... but I ruined everything..."

_"Hey... you didn't ruin anything, sweetheart." _Elsa she sat down next to her sister and the snowman, making sure her bare knees stayed away from any of the sharper pieces on the floor as she shuffled closer to them both. Olaf sniffled with a smile as Kristoff sat down too, though the misty glaze in his eyes looked like they were holding back an entire waterfall.

Elsa gently took the tower out of his hands and placed it upright on the floor, while Anna let a little grin cross her face. "Does someone need a warm hug?"

It took a moment for the snowman to answer, but he eventually let out a sad little nod, which prompted the others to wrap their arms around him in a loving group embrace, with all of them keeping their eyes closed to let the moment sink in.

"Hmm..." he sighed with his usual optimism gleaming back out through the sadness. "Aw... thanks, guys... I like warm hugs."

_"Yeah, me too..."_ Anna's eyes snapped open first as she heard the unfamiliar female voice that came from next to her, almost wondering if she'd imagined it for a moment before she felt something cold holding onto her waist from behind. One by one the others heard it too, but weren't sure where it was coming from with Anna in the way. _"There's just something really nice about hugging that I can't quite explain... maybe it's the warm feeling that you get on the outside from the extra body heat or something, or it could have something to do with the warm feeling you get on the inside when someone you care about wraps you up and tells you everything's gonna be okay... well, I dunno. Hugging is great."_

Once she turned her head around Anna kept her widened eyes fixated on the snowman that was latched onto her side, frantically trying to get the others' attention before the little female stopped her childish giggling and looked up at her with a smile. _"Am I right?"_

**"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" **Anna shrieked as she jolted backwards into the others, her foot swinging upwards to kick the new snow-girl's head up into the air as her fat little body toppled over. Neither Elsa or Kristoff had noticed what Anna was reacting to, while Olaf's face was planted onto the floor so he couldn't see anything.

**"GAAAAAAAAHHHH!"** another new voice screamed out as another, slightly taller and thinner snowman came running out from behind the table in front of them, catching the female's head as it caused him to fall back with the weight and momentum. Anna was trying to get back up and have a better look at them, which was difficult to do since she, Kristoff and Elsa were currently piled up on top of Olaf as if they were playing a game of _Twister_.

**"I told you they were gonna do that!"** the taller snowman shouted in a whiny tone as he pulled the female's body back up, planting her head back onto it as quickly and clumsily as he could.

_"I'm sorry, I just... I saw them all hugging and... and I got ahead of myself! And I can't see a thing right now and I don't know why! I'm all scared and confused, okay?!"_

Elsa's eyes went wide as she and Kristoff finally saw the new arrivals, grunting as Anna tripped over and fell on top of them again. _**"Anna! Where did those snowmen come from?!"**_

The taller snowman gasped as he saw what now seemed to be a hideous, three-headed human monster staring directly at him, fearfully grabbing the female's arm as he said **"AAAGH! come on, let's get outta this crazy-house!"**

As he ran towards the staircase he hadn't realised that he'd pulled the female's arm right off her body, with her clumsily trying to follow behind as she lagged back a few dozen feet. **_"Hang on, I need that arm back! Wait for me!"_**

Anna finally managed to force herself back to her feet, still holding Elsa's old glasses in her hands as she tiptoed over the shards and frantically started running up the stairs after the runaways. **"Hey, wait a second! You guys, wait! Please, I just wanna talk! Come back!"**


	9. Starting Over

The taller snowman reached the top of the stairs long before the female did, still holding her arm in his hand as he darted down the hallway and disappeared around the left corner. The female panted heavily as she paused in the middle of the hallway to catch her breath, only to gasp as she turned around to see Anna reaching the top of the steps and tripping over the top one.

The Queen groaned as she rubbed her shin, reaching out to the small bundle of snow as she started running away again. **"Ugh! Look, I'm not gonna hurt you guys! Just stop running away from me!"**

_"Wait-what? **OOF!**"_

Anna winced as she saw the snow-girl run straight into the wall, quickly darting over to catch her as she stumbled back. She let out a panting exhale as she looked to the discombobulated little creature in her arms, who almost tried to scream before Anna shushed her. "There, it... it's okay, I got you. You don't need to be afraid..."

_"Then... ugh... then why did you kick my head off? All I wanted was to be in your hug..."_

"Oh, right... well because I was, um... startled..." Anna rubbed the back of her neck, as she noticed Elsa and Kristoff reach the top of the stairs behind them. "People can mess things up when they're scared, I mean... just look at you, ha ha... that was a nasty little bump you had just then..."

_"Yeah, um... was that a wall?"_ the female squinted her beady little eyes as she reached her remaining arm over to the wall to touch it, making Anna's face straighten a bit when she realised the little creature's peculiar disability. _"That really came out of nowhere... it looks like a big, red blur of some kind..."_

"Hmm... well... maybe you could do with these..." Anna opened her other hand, unfolding Elsa's old reading glasses and gently balancing them on the snow-girl's barely-protruded carrot nose. The lenses almost acted like a magnifying glass, making the creature's light hazel eyes fully widen as she finally saw what Anna looked like.

_**"Wow, thank you so much!" **_she cried out in the most joyful tone possible as Anna slowly let her stand back on the floor. _"This is so weird! I can see everything now! This place looks amazing, and I... oh... um..."_

Anna turned around to the others as Elsa and Kristoff both got down on their knees, with the snow-girl nervously clearing her throat as the thinner male slowly poked his head from round the corner and stood next to her. _"Wow... okay, I think we should probably start over, um... hi everyone. My name's Beatrix, and... I think I'm getting a good vibe from you guys."_

"And I'm Loaf." the other snowman's voice was somewhat dryer and more cynical as he passed Beatrix her arm back. "Don't expect any hugs from me. I'm not really a people person, and, to be honest, I'm still not certain the three of you don't wanna eat us."

_"Wait... Beatrix... Loaf?"_ Elsa said this as she and Anna both took in the details of the two snowmen, both of whom had their arms outstretched as if they were waiting for something. It all came rushing back to Anna when she recognised the messy lipstick around the girl's warm little smile and the snow on her head that was sculpted into a pixie cut, as well as the blue and green striped scarf laced around the boy's neck.

"That's right... you're Beatrix and Loaf!"

The two remained in their poses for another second or two, both speaking in-sync as they slowly said_** "and you are...?"**_

"Oh right, yeah. Um..." Anna cleared her throat as she gave room for Elsa and Kristoff to get closer. "I'm Anna... this is my sister, Elsa, my husband Kristoff, and somewhere around here is..."

A familiar gasp came from behind them, as Elsa and Anna both turned to see who was standing there. **"Loaf and Beatrix! You're alive!"**

**_"OLAF!" _**Beatrix suddenly shrieked with delight when she saw the snowman standing behind the three humans, with both her and Olaf letting out almost identical laughs as they frantically ran together to wrap each other in a tight hug. The two snowmen were both excitedly speaking in-sync as they separated.

_**"I'm so happy to... it's really... wow! I can't believe... jinx! Jinx again! Ha ha!"**_

Loaf rolled his eyes as he walked over to the two of them, an annoyed tone in his voice as he looked back at the three humans. "You see what _I_ have to deal with? Totally ridiculous."

_"Uh... yeah..." _Kristoff was still somewhat dumbfounded as he looked to the three of them. _"So... how do you two know who Olaf is?"_

_"Why wouldn't we know?" _Beatrix said back naively as she kept tight to Olaf, while he unsuccessfully tried to have Loaf join in their hug. _"He's our big brother!"_

Elsa looked to Anna, who's smile slowly shrank into a more confused glance back at her. "Wait, so... how did they come to life...?"

"Well..." Loaf spoke up in a dramatic tone as everyone looked at him, stroking his slightly pointed chin as if he was about to tell an epic tale. "It's kind of a long story..."

* * *

_**"HUUUUURRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!"**_

_Elsa clapped her hands together to deliver a massive, devastating blast that sent Berit flying backwards several dozen feet. The sheer size and power behind this snowy shockwave encased the entire room in sharp aberrations of ice, shattering all of the windows and toppling every piece of furniture still in the room, including the table that Olaf's models were being kept on._

_Several hours had passed before the daylight finally made it's way through the shattered windows and scattered across the floor. The two snowmen finally awoke, shooting up like bullets as their gasps echoed through the empty ballroom. **"I LIVE!"**_

* * *

"Hmm..." Loaf thought for a moment as the rest of the group kept looking at him, their faces now showing what almost seemed to be disappointment at the somewhat mundane explanation. "Okay, maybe not _that_ long..."

_"Ooh, but I do remember seeing a lot of this big purple ball of smoke in the sky last night... um, there were a lot of weird jaggedy shapes coming out of it, like... pew-pew-pew!"_ Beatrix started throwing her hands around in random directions as she made these noises. _"Does that ring any bells to anybody?"_

_"Uh... yes, that was Berit's lightning..."_ Elsa nodded, but this prompted Beatrix to pull a confused face as Loaf said "wait... who's what-thing?"

"Right, yeah, um... you guys weren't really around for that, yet, so I'll just give you the basics..." Olaf took a deep breath as his new siblings stayed silent to listen, only to launch into a rapid tirade that the others could barely comprehend. **_"Basically-there's-this-crazy-lady-with-sparkle-fingers-called-Berit-and-she's-threatening-our-kingdom-and-we-have-to-go-looking-for-her-before-she-comes-back-and-destroys-everything-and-kills-everybody."_**

Elsa, Anna and Kristoff were all wide-eyed at this, though Loaf and Beatrix both seemed to have taken it in just fine. Beatrix spoke up first as she straightened the glasses on her face. _"Wow... that seems pretty intense. So... where are you going to look?"_

_"Good news, your Majesty. I had a look in the library while you were gone and found some old maps to-wait, what's going on here?"_ Mattias froze in his tracks as he saw the entire group, pointing with wide eyes at Beatrix and Loaf in particular.

"Right, um..." Anna pinched the bridge of her nose as Beatrix waved at the dumbfounded general, who nonchalantly waved back once he'd gotten over the initial shock. "Mattias... Loaf and Beatrix. Loaf and Beatrix... Mattias."

* * *

There was a candle lit on the table next to Anna's bed, though she found the aurora in the sky outside was have applying plenty of light for her to read without it. It was past midnight and she was sure the rest of the castle was asleep, but Anna was still wide-awake, sat on top of her bedsheets as she carefully studied the maps that Mattias had given to her. Kristoff had decided to give his wife some alone time, sleeping on the couch in the library with Olaf and his siblings sleeping in front of it.

The guards were to prepare a small ship for the sisters, Kristoff, Olaf and Mattias to leave on first thing in the morning, so all Anna had to do now was figure out the best course and direction to take in order to get to Torden as quickly as possible. She'd spent the past few hours muttering to herself as she scribbled, wrote and drew several little lines, markings and other notes onto the maps, eventually settling on a somewhat straight course that would take them through a small glacier region and with some extra power from the _Nøkk _would hopefully get them to the other kingdom by the next sunrise.

A part of her worried about the possibility of another attack, as she often found herself glancing to the window to see if she could spot any of Berit's purple clouds or malformed lighting bolts. She almost felt disappointed every time she looked and there wasn't any threat in sight, but still found at least some relief every time she saw that the kingdom was still safe.

"We're coming for you, sparkle fingers..." she suddenly found herself muttering to the window, the more spiteful part of her mind hoping that Berit could hear her somehow. "And you're gonna wish we hadn't..."

**_Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkk..._** her eyes widened as she heard the slow creak coming from the other side of her door, slowly reaching for the knife she'd kept on her bedside as the handle slowly turned upwards and the door slowly cracked open a few inches.

_"Pssst... Anna... are you awake?"_

"Oh... hey you..." Anna put the knife back on the table as she saw Beatrix poke her head in, the snow-girl shyly shuffling in as she closed the door behind her. "Hmm... you can't sleep either, huh?"

Beatrix shrugged as she pushed her glasses up on her face. _"Well no, I just... I just heard you were having trouble with these map things and... and I thought you might want a little help with them."_

Anna smiled, looking at the papers in her hands as she held them up. "Well, I'm all done with them now... all I gotta do next is just get a little shut-eye for tomorrow..."

She folded the maps up and put them aside, shuffling to the further end of the bed as she patted the other side in a welcoming manner with her hand. "Come on... you too..."

Beatrix giggled excitedly at the invitation as she climbed up onto the bed, scooching over to the Queen as Anna gently put her arm around her. During the afternoon Olaf had taken his siblings out to see the rest of the kingdom, which allowed them to realise that the two new snowmen were still very susceptible to the summer heat. After quite a traumatic experience with Beatrix almost ending up a puddle, Elsa had quickly decided to give her and Loaf the same coating of permafrost that their brother had, meaning that the small snow-girl felt a lot less cold to Anna as they embraced now.

Anna blew out the candle on the table as she rested back on the pillow and closed her eyes, opening her right one as Beatrix spoke up again. _"Hey Anna?"_

"Uh-huh?"

_"Are you worried about the Storm Queen?" _Beatrix's voice betrayed a hint of nervousness._ "She sounds pretty scary from what Olaf's told me."_

"Uh... no... of course not..." Anna opened both her eyes as she said this, taking a moment to think before continuing. "Well, maybe a little, but... but I think it'll be fine, Beatrix. Elsa and I have faced a lot worse than her."

_"Wow..."_ Beatrix nestled closer to her. _"I mean... I get scared really easily... I don't think I could ever be as brave as you, Anna..."_

"Well... just because you get scared doesn't mean you can't be brave too..." Anna had a warm, comforting tone in her voice. "You know... being brave isn't about not being afraid, it's about not letting your fears stop you. And doing what needs to be done even if it scares you. That's the bravest thing you can do."

_"Really?" _the snow-girl looked up at the Queen as she nodded. _"Hmm... come to think of it, I could probably do that."_

"Yeah... I bet you could, Beatrix..." Anna slowly closed her eyes again as they both rested back on the pillow. "I bet you could."

* * *

**AN: Well, that's just about the halfway point of the story and _(almost)_ all of the major characters have been introduced and established. The bad news is that this is the last chapter I'm posting this year, but the good news is that next year starts tonight/tomorrow and I'll be posting the next chapter then to celebrate.**

**I really hope you're enjoying what I've written so far and will continue to like the rest. Happy New Year, everyone!**


	10. To The Lost Kingdom Of Torden

The sun had only been up for about an hour as the guards finished loading the crates and supplies onto the ship, while a small crowd of Arendellians and Northuldra had gathered at the dock. The castle gates opened as Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Mattias all stepped out, with the crowd parting to let them through as they walked across the pier and prepared to board their vessel.

The clothes they wore were mostly lightweight and practical, with the sisters both wearing thin jackets and leggings in their signature colours. Anna had her hair braided into a ponytail at the back of her head, and her satchel contained a compass and the maps that she'd spent most of the previous night writing and scribbling on to determine their route. She, Mattias and Kristoff also carried a sheathed sword each in case they were in need of it, while Olaf was in charge of the snacks and also packed some shields.

Yelena and Honeymaren were both standing at the pier in front of the ship to see the travellers off, with Honeymaren stepping towards the sisters as she said "the Northuldra and the royal guard will look after the kingdom while you're gone."

"Thank you, Honey." Elsa gently took her hand with a smile as Anna helped Mattias load a few extra crates onto the ship. _"If... if something happens and we don't make it back..."_

"Then the trolls and the spirits will protect us." Yelena nodded as she stepped forward, with Honeymaren almost sounding nervous as she said "yeah, but... just don't think about it going wrong, okay?"

Elsa hesitated for a moment, before nodding as she softly said _"yeah... yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine."_

* * *

The group had all boarded the ship now as they prepared to set sail, with Elsa and Anna going to the rear end of the vessel to address the crowd watching them.

**"People of Arendelle!" **Anna began her speech as Elsa stood behind her. **"Today, we travel to the Kingdom of Torden, to find the Queen of the Storm! And I promise you now, we will do everything we can, to stop this threat, and save our kingdom!"**

The sisters both seemed reassured as the crowd cheered at the speech, only for their eyes to widen a bit as one person called out. **_"We're counting on you, Elsa!"_**

**"Yes! Show that weather witch what for!"** another voice called out, which prompted the rest of the crowd to start throwing out words of encouragement to Elsa. Anna kept a smile on her face, though she could sense that strange feeling again as the crowd continued praising her sister, the same feeling she had two nights before when Berit last attacked.

_"Anna?"_

Anna felt her teeth biting into her lip as she started staring off into space, trying to calm herself down while also trying to force that feeling away. She was luckily snapped back to reality when she heard Elsa's voice again. _"Anna."_

"Hmm... wait, what?" Anna shook her head as she looked back at her sister, with Elsa putting her hand on her shoulder as she added _"it's time to go..."_

"Oh... oh right, yeah. Sure. Um..." Anna cleared her throat as she turned around and faced the others on the ship. **"Set sail!"**

Mattias and Kristoff pulled either end of the rope on the mast to bring down the sail, while Olaf ran to the side of the ship to throw off the rope keeping them attached to the dock. The entire group waved to the crowd on the pier as the vessel pulled out from the dock and onto the main fjord. Anna went with Olaf to the front of the ship as Mattias took the wheel, while Elsa looked to the water and called out her mother's calling siren that echoed throughout the waves below.

The depths began to rumble the ship for a moment before the _Nøkk_ emerged from the fjord, summoning a great wave that swept past Arendelle and blew several of the crowd members tumbling back. Getting over the initial shock, the crowd was back to cheering as the wave pushed the ship forward as the passengers on board all held on, moving it outwards into the open water in the direction Anna had charted for them.

The wave lowered slightly but continued to press the ship ahead at a faster than average pace, though the vessel had stabilised so the group could all stand and move about casually and safely. With the voyage finally begun, Anna turned back to look at Arendelle as it grew smaller and smaller by the second.

* * *

Despite the amount of time that she'd spent preparing for this trip, it had only just occurred to the Queen that she and her sister hadn't really left their island before. That wasn't entirely true, as they'd visited some other kingdoms like Corona and Dunbroch for treaty signings, but they were rarer occassions as Arendelle was usually the host for special occassions such as this. The most unusual place Anna had ever been to was the Enchanted Forest, but now they were on their way to a country that she hadn't even heard of until the day before, which may or may not have been under the control of a lightning powered weather witch.

Nevertheless, she was holding herself calm enough as the ship carried on uneventfully for another half hour or so, eventually getting out the main map to Torden as she unfurled it for herself, Elsa and Mattias to look at. Kristoff was starting to get some food ready for the others, while Olaf was taking a loudly snoring nap on top of a few of the supply crates.

_"So... at this rate I reckon we'll be there before dawn tomorrow..."_ Anna nodded as Mattias said this, folding the map closed as she and Elsa both looked at him. "General?"

_"Yes, your Majesty?"_

"You know how you said that Torden used to be the biggest kingdom around here until my grandfather ruled Arendelle..." Mattias nodded, prompting Anna to continue. "Well, um... are we on good terms with them?"

_"Good terms?"_

_"Yeah, I think what Anna's trying to say, General..."_ Elsa had a hand on her sister's shoulder. _"Would the sight of an Arendellian ship set off any alarm bells with these guys?"_

_"Hmm... well, I shouldn't think so."_ Mattias seemed happy enough with himself as he said this. _"Then again, that was nearly forty years ago, and... well, a lot can happen in that time."_

**"AAAAAAHHH!" **Olaf suddenly shot up from the crate he was sleeping on, clutching his now smoking backside as he ran screaming in circles. The others were all alerted by this, with Mattias particularly trying not to panic as he took off his cape and tried to cover the snowman's burning rear with it.

**_"Stop, drop and roll! Stop, drop and roll!"_ **the General frantically cried out as the snowman fell flat on his face, only for Elsa to quickly hit him with a blast of ice that put out the burning. Anna and Mattias both sighed in relief as Olaf pulled himself back to his feet, panting as they all looked at the familiarly pinkish flame that was sitting on top of the crate.

_"Wait..." _Kristoff squinted at the silhouette that was forming under the flame. _"Is that...?"_

The sisters were both surprised when the small, blue salamander jumped out of the flame, playfully landing in Elsa's hand as her cold touch caused steam to fly off of him. Bruni was clearly happy to see both the Queens as he looked up at Anna, letting her stroke his back with her finger.

"Hmm... he must have stowed away when we were setting off..." Anna grinned at the little lizard. "Didn't want to let us go alone, did you, little buddy?"

**"GAH! Finally!" **the lid of the crate Bruni had been sitting on suddenly flew open, jolting everyone into a brief shock again before Loaf stuck his head out and glared at Olaf. "I thought you'd never get off! The last thing I wanna do is be stuck in some tiny box the whole trip!"

_"Loaf?!" _Anna and Elsa both spoke in-sync. **_"What are you doing here?!"_**

_"Hi guys..."_ Beatrix shyly poked her head up from behind her taller sibling, making everyone even more surprised when the crate fell sideways and they both clumsily toppled out. Anna's eyes were even wider as she walked over and pulled both snowmen to their feet.

"But I thought... ugh. I thought the two of you were staying back in Arendelle?"

Beatrix straightened her glasses, wringing her stick fingers together nervously as she took off the pink winter hat that she'd been wearing. _"Please don't be mad, we... we just wanted to help you guys out..."_

"You mean _you_ wanted to help them out." Loaf snarked as he crossed his arms smugly, looking at Elsa, Kristoff and Mattias as he added "and if it helps my case, my sister made me come along. She won't deny it either."

Anna rolled her eyes at his words, sounding more comforting as she looked at Beatrix and said "well, sweetheart, I'm not mad... it's just... this is probably gonna be really intense, and you told me yourself that you get scared really easily."

_"Well yeah... but just because I'm scared doesn't mean I can't be brave too, right?"_ Beatrix raised a clever little eyebrow at this, prompting a chuckle back from Anna.

"Well... I guess you're right about that..." Anna got back to her feet and looked back behind the ship, with Arendelle now being completely out of sight. "And it's too late to turn back, so... I guess you're part of the crew now..."

"Oh hooray..." Loaf's tone of voice was deadpan and unamused, but Beatrix was clearly really excited as she tightly hugged Anna's legs (only just being tall enough to reach them). Anna crouched down and rustled the sculpted hair on the snow-girl's head as she looked to Loaf and Olaf.

"But we don't know what's out there, you guys... it could get really dangerous, really fast, so the three of you have to stay together, okay?" she had an authoritative but still caring tone in her voice, which prompted a little nod from Beatrix.

_"Uh-huh... yeah, sure thing, Anna. I can do that..."_

"Hmm... good." Anna nodded as she got back to her feet, smiling at Elsa as she added "well, here we go then..."

_"Yep." _Elsa's voice seemed somewhat conflicted as they all looked to the front of the ship, trying to imagine what lay ahead on the path of the Northern Lights. _"Into the unknown..."_

* * *

The rest of the trip had gone about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. There were no storms, no rainfall or even rough waves and waters of any kind, and now the aurora lit up the night sky as the ship floated at a steady pace across the starry field of glaciers.

The group had spent most of the day playing games to pass the time, with Beatrix proving herself surprisingly competent with a chessboard while Elsa and Anna had managed to finally win a very intense game of charades. But now the majority of the group was fast asleep, with Olaf and Beatrix both resting close to Kristoff while Loaf had a pillow over his head to try blocking out the noises of their snoring. Mattias had sat himself at the front of the deck to get the first glimpse at Torden when it came, having tried all of five minutes to stay awake before he too had his head drooped down as he snored.

Anna and Elsa were both wide awake, lying on their backs at the top of the deck and looking upwards at the light show above. Bruni was curled up on Anna's shoulder, with the sound of his breath being almost inaudible, though Anna found the heat he provided was a welcome addition with the slight chill that came from their surroundings. Both sisters found were entranced by the dazzling array, though they still held onto each other's hands and enjoyed the moment together.

_"It's even more beautiful up close."_

"Yeah..." Anna exhaled in awe, looking to Elsa as her older sister started chuckling. "What? What's so funny?"

_"You know... the sky's awake..."_ Elsa had a knowing smirk on her face as she kept trying to stifle a laugh. Anna seemed confused as she raised an eyebrow, prompting Elsa to roll her eyes as she said _"oh come on, please don't tell me you forgot about that."_

"Forgot? What did I... oh... _oh..._ oh yeah, ha ha... aw, of course..." Anna smiled as the old memory came back to her, pinching the bridge of her nose as she thought about the amount of times she'd tried to force Elsa up to play with her when they were children. "The good old days..."

_"Hmm... yeah..."_

They stayed silent for another few minutes as they kept looking at the sky, before Anna broke the silence again. "Elsa?"

_"Uh-huh..."_

"You ever wonder what they really are? You know... what's really up there past those lights?"

Elsa thought for a moment about how to answer, twiddling her thumbs as she kept her eyes upwards. _"Well, I um... I'm not really sure... I guess... hmm... after we'd um... back when we were separated as kids, I... I used to dream about them, and imagine there was this... this whole other world up there, you know...? Sometimes I'd think about flying up there somehow, getting away from it all, and... and finding this land full of magic, that... that no human could ever comprehend... like a hidden paradise."_

Anna smiled at her sister as they tightened their grip on each other's hand. "Well, that's certainly an interesting theory, sis."

_"Well what did you think it was?"_

"I dunno, but... I guess..." Anna pinched the bridge of her nose. "I used to think maybe they were spirits, kinda like ghosts. I mean, not scary ghosts, but... you know... people who were... _gone_."

Anna's little sniffle as she rubbed her face with the back of her hand got Elsa's attention, with the older Queen knowing exactly what and who her sister was thinking about. _"Like Mother and Father."_

"Yeah... and Sven, too." Anna let a little tear go down her face as she kept her eyes fixated on the aurora. "I think it'd be nice, you know... if they were all up there still. Watching over us."

_"It would be nice."_ Elsa pulled herself closer to Anna and put her arm around her sister's shoulder, both of them getting misty-eyed as they looked up still. _"It'd be wonderful."_

They both went wide-eyed as they heard Mattias clearing his throat, looking down from the rainbow-illuminated night sky to see the General standing there fully awake. _"We're almost at Torden."_

* * *

The red tint of dawn was just beginning to take over the sky as the ship stopped alongside the messy, rusted pier. Elsa disembarked the vessel first, turning in a circle with her hands raised to make sure there were no threats nearby. She signalled the others to follow her, with Kristoff looking with some confusion at the cloudy, desolated landscape in front of them. _"Hey Mattias... just wondering... did Torden always look like this?"_

_"Oh yes, absolutely."_ Mattias had a fearful but also slightly sarcastic tone in his voice as Olaf and Beatrix both stayed close behind him, though Loaf trailed behind alone. _"Just take away the spooky mist, imagine the houses are a lot less burned down and there's a lot more people. Or just... any people at all."_

Anna and Elsa were ahead of the others as they tiptoed over the dry, dead ground under their feet, standing at the large, open gates that led to the long-abandoned village square. Feeling some kind of cloth under her shoe as they entered, Elsa kicked away a pile of black dirt and rubble to reveal a decayed and dirty flag attached to a spire that had broken off from the town's cathedral.

Anna helped her sister to hold it up as they observed the symbol on the flag, a blue circle with a red sword through the middle and two purple wolf heads positioned on either side. Anna took a moment to study it's details before she spoke up, pinching Bruni's mouth closed so the salamander on her shoulder didn't set it ablaze.

"Well... that's definitely the flag from Pabbie's visions. We're in the right place. Now we just gotta figure out how _she's_ connected to it."

"I think the real question oughta be about what happened here...?" Olaf gently poked the corner of one of the houses, only for everyone to jolt back in fright as the entire house suddenly collapsed because of this tiny disturbance. It caused a small cloud of thick, dirty brown dust to surround the group, with Beatrix having to take off her glasses to clean them. _"Ugh... hey Loaf, can I borrow your scarf for a... uh... Loaf?"_

"Wait..." Anna said as the dust cleared and they all looked around and they realised the group of eight (including Bruni) was only a group of seven. "Where is Loaf? Loaf?!"

"Uh... Loaf?! **LOAF?!**" Olaf put both his hands over his mouth as he bellowed out his sibling's name, but the thinner snowman was nowhere in sight. Olaf was about to call out again, only for him and Beatrix to suddenly dash behind Mattias as they all heard an ominous rumbling in the distance.

Elsa and Anna both had to squint to look past the main tower of the decrepit palace, seeing the familiar purple clouds forming on the mountainside that was about two miles away from the kingdom. Anna took a moment to think before she pointed to the mountainside as everyone else looked up.

"Well... that's where Berit is. We'll have to just pack what we need to get up there."

_"No..."_

Anna went wide-eyed as Elsa said this. "Wait, what? But..."

_"Berit wanted me to come alone, Anna."_ Elsa looked back to her sister. _"She won't cooperate unless she thinks I did. I have to go first."_

"No, but... ugh, Elsa, I thought we agreed you weren't gonna do this alone. You said..."

_"I know what I said, and I meant it."_ Elsa took Anna's hand, stroking her thumb across it comfortingly. _"Look, I have my powers to protect me. And we'll have a better chance of beating her if she doesn't know our numbers. You guys just set up camp here for now, and I'll come back when I have a better idea of what we're up against."_

Anna looked to the others, who all seemed to silently agree with Elsa's suggestion, taking another silent moment before she said "okay... just be careful, Elsa."

_"I will..." _Elsa pulled her sister into a tight hug, with Anna returning it as they stood in this embrace for about a minute. Elsa eventually pulled away, heading towards the back outskirts of the village as she looked to the others a final time. _"Make you find Loaf before he gets into any trouble!"_

_"On it!"_ Kristoff nonchalantly called back as Elsa walked away, with Anna keeping her eyes fixated on her sister until she finally disappeared into the mist. Kristoff put his hand on his wife's shoulder as she sighed. _"You alright?"_

"Uh... I'm fine." Anna smiled at him as she put her hand over the one on her shoulder. "We'll just set up the tents, and she'll um... she'll come back, and it'll all be good."

_"Sure thing."_ Kristoff nodded as he gently kissed her on the lips. _"Right. I'm gonna go look for the runaway. I'll bring the tents back when I pass the ship."_

"Uh-huh..." Anna watched as Kristoff walked back the way they'd come, while Beatrix sauntered over to the Queen and held onto the end of her dress. Anna gently caressed the back of the snow-girl's head, saying "you feeling okay, Beatrix?"

_"Yeah, I'm good, just... breaking down my stress into little stages, you know..."_ Beatrix tried to keep a smile on her face, but her twitching eye and shivering arms indicated that it was agonising for her to hold back all her feelings. _"So you think Elsa'll be okay?"_

Anna nodded with a conflicted look on her face, glancing upwards to the direction of the stormy mountain, stroking Bruni's back as the salamander continued hanging playfully off her shoulder. "I really, really hope so."


	11. Bonds Forged - Round Two

_"Loaf! Hey Loaf, where are you? **LOAF?!**"_

Kristoff was heading back to the ship as he continued calling out the missing snowman's name, going wide-eyed as he suddenly heard a painful grunt from up ahead, followed by the loud sound of several wooden objects clattering onto the floor. He looked up with a nonchalant eye roll as he saw the familiar figure standing at the wheel of the ship, making his way across the nearly-destroyed pier as he boarded it himself.

He stood at the corner of the ship with his arms folded, with Loaf not noticing him for a few moments as he continued trying to turn the wheel. _"So what do you think you're doing?"_

**"AAAH! OW!" **the frightful jolt that the snowman let out caused him to turn the wheel too far, causing it to hit him over the head as he was sent flying into the wall. Loaf went back to his usual deadpan moodiness as he pulled himself to his feet, saying "what's it look like I'm doing?! Escaping certain doom!"

_"I take it you have no plans to come back for the rest of us, then?"_ Kristoff remained casual with a hint of sarcasm as he finally walked over to the wheel, propping his foot up to keep the snowman from reaching it. _"Not even for your brother and sister?"_

"Hey man, if they wanna get themselves, they can be my guest! Beatrix was the one who dragged me all the way out here on this stupid trip anyway." Loaf eventually forced Kristoff's foot off of his chest as he ran over to the other side of the wheel, jumping up and grabbing one of the handles as he started pulling it down. "That's why I'm heading back to that last place we were... or anywhere that's far away from here..."

_"Yeah, I don't think so, buddy..."_ Kristoff grabbed one of the opposite handles of the wheel, surprising Loaf as he effortlessly pulled it back to it's previous position, though Loaf wouldn't give up as he tried putting all his strength into the other side. Kristoff pulled again, finding himself more and more frustrated as Loaf continued to pull back. _"Ugh! Just give up, okay?! You're not going anywhere, Loaf! Especially not with this ship!"_

"Why do you care so much?" Loaf yanked the wheel back, with him and Kristoff taking turns doing this as they spoke. _"Because I'm not gonna let you abandon our friends!"_

"Our what?"

_"Our friends! Everybody out there!"_

"Argh, who needs them?! All you guys do is fight one minute and hug the next! No consistency whatsoever! If that's what these _friend_ things do, then I don't wanna have any!"

_"There's more to it than that, you little brat!" _Kristoff pulled especially hard on the wheel as he grunted this out. _"Friends are loyal to each other! They help us out when we need it most! Not just when things are easy, but when things are hard, and when things get messy like they're getting now! Not that you'd know that, since all you do is think about yourself!"_

"Exactly! I don't help people, and this whole trip is putting me off ever helping anyone ever again!"

_"You are so... ugh!"_ Kristoff was trying not to be reminded of his younger, more loner self as he continued pulling the wheel back. _"Look! You may be too stupid and stubborn to understand this, but I love every single person out there, and I'm gonna do everything I can to keep them safe!"_

"Why would you wanna waste time doing that?!"

_"Because!"_

"Because what?"

_"Just because, okay?!"_

"Hey I've been alive for two days and even I know just saying _because_ isn't an answer! So why don't..."

**_"Because I can't lose anyone else, Sven!" _**Kristoff let go of the wheel as Loaf pulled, causing the wide-eyed snowman to fall back against the wall with a grunt as they both looked at each other. They both stayed silent for a few moments after this outburst, with Kristoff pinching the bridge of his nose as he rested his back against the wheel with a frustrated sigh.

After some brief hesitation, Loaf slowly sat next to the taller human, taking another moment before he curiously broke the silence. "Who's Sven?"

_"Huh?"_

"You called me Sven just then." Kristoff's eyes sank a bit when he realised Loaf was right, sighing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So... who is that?"

Kristoff was somewhat more reluctant to speak again for a moment or two. _"Sven is... well, Sven was... Sven was my friend. We've been together ever since I was kid, really... and as long as I can remember, it was me and him, but... but he's gone now. And... since then I... I just don't really know what to do with myself anymore..."_

"Oh..." Loaf wasn't sure what exactly was possessing him to put his stick hand over Kristoff's much larger one, but it felt good for a reason he couldn't really understand or explain. "Was he um... was he a good friend?"

_"Yeah..."_ Kristoff wiped his face with his hand. _"The best there ever was."_

He took a moment to think, before he offered the now calmer, more curious snowman his hand. _"Here's my idea... I'll tell you and your sister more about Sven if you come back to the camp with me and don't try running away again... final offer... take it or leave it..."_

Loaf thought for a moment as he looked up to the wheel, having a final consideration on whether he could or should go through with his original plan. Eventually, he sighed in defeat as he looked up at Kristoff, saying "okay... then it's a deal..."

* * *

The winds grew restless as Elsa strode onward, huddling herself together as she went further and further up the mountain. It wasn't cold, not that it would have bothered her, but the heat actually seemed to increase in the dry air as she came closer to the purple clouds at the peak.

**"Berit!"** she called out at the top of her lungs as she reached the top, taking in the large piles of black rock and rubble that surrounded her before looking to the violet coloured mist ahead. There was no answer, just the slight whistle of the breeze in the clouds, which frustrated Elsa a bit as she continued. **_"I'm here! I'm right where you want me to be! Come out and face me, now!... BERIT!"_**

She froze on the spot as she felt the rumbling sound again from the clouds ahead, clenching her fists in a battle-ready stance as the mist began to clear and she just started to glimpse the figure emerging from it. The Queen of the Storm was nonchalantly relaxed on her tall, stone throne, the same one Pabbie had shown in his visions, while her green eyes lit up at the sight of the Snow Queen.

_"Ah... I must say, I'm incredibly pleased that you accepted my invitation." _Berit pulled herself off of the throne as she began walking towards Elsa, fully revealing herself as Elsa tensed up. _"So remind me again, dear... where were we?"_

**_"HEE-YAH!" _**Elsa grunted as she sent a blast of ice in Berit's direction, the latter swiftly moving to one side to avoid it as it disappeared into the mist behind her. _"Ah yes... now I remember."_

_**ZZZZAAAP!**_

**_"AAGH!" _**the Snow Queen cried out as Berit sent a retaliatory bolt of lightning that hit her right in the chest, sending her flying back before she landed on her front mere inches away from the edge of the flat peak. Elsa shook her head as she exhaled, trying not to look at the long distance down below as she got back on her feet and turned back to Berit with her hands now open. _"Okay... okay..."_

Berit had a smug grin on her face as she gave a sarcastic beckoning gesture with her finger, which infuriated Elsa enough to charge forwards with her footsteps leaving sharp icicles behind her. Summoning another round of lightning, Berit grabbed the next bolt and swung it horizontally like a sword, only for Elsa to duck as she slid down onto her knees, swinging her foot back to kick Berit's legs from under her.

_"Ooh!" _Berit fell on her back with a grunt as Elsa gracefully spun herself back onto her feet, now standing in front of Berit's throne as the weather witch lay back on the ground. Berit hadn't lost her grin as she got back up, having an admiring little twinkle in her eye as she said _"hmm... and here I was worrying you weren't going to make this interesting..."_

Elsa rotated her hand around, creating pillars of ice cream that surrounded Berit on all sides, before pressing her hands together and causing them all to close in on the Storm Queen. Berit was merely amused by this, snapping her fingers to summon several more bolts of lighting that disintegrated each pillar to free her from the makeshift prison. She kept her hand gripped on the next jagged bolt of lightning as she brought it down, with Elsa getting on one knee as she summoned a circular shield of ice that shattered the bolt with a resounding _**CRASH!**_

Berit stumbled back a bit as the pieces of the bolt flew off in different directions, so Elsa took the opportunity to hold her shield with both hands as she swatted Berit hard across the face with it, stunning her even more before she spun around and sent the curved corner of her weapon right onto her opponent's right shoulder blade.

**_"Ugh! Why you little...!"_ **Berit's usually calm mood let in a hint of childlike rage in reaction to this attack, tearing the shield out of Elsa's hand and tossing it away as one of her lightning bolts blasted it to smithereens. Elsa was taken off-guard by this, giving Berit ample time to send her foot into her stomach before throwing a bolt down onto the ground that sent Elsa flying backwards.

_**"AAAAAH-UGH!"**_ Elsa hit her back hard against the throne as it shattered on impact, landing on top of the rubble as she coughed through the dust. She was quite dizzied by that last blow, her vision becoming blurred so she could only just make out the shape of Berit standing over her.

_"I think we'll agree that I won that one, eh?"_ her tone had a more playful, friendly arrogance to it, taking Elsa off-guard as she held out her hand to her. _"Come on, up you get..."_

The Snow Queen's confusion caused her to hesitate, before she eventually accepted the offer as Berit pulled her up out of the rubble and back on her feet. Elsa still wasn't sure how to react as Berit put a hand on her shoulder, putting the other to her face as she started laughing heartily like an excited child.

_"Ah ha ha ha ha ha... oh my... oh, you... I mean the... and then that... ah ha... and the shield as well, you... hmm... you really are something, Elsa, I'll give you that..."_ Berit managed to calm down a bit as she held her hand up to Elsa again. _"Good game?"_

Elsa raised a surprised eyebrow, prompting Berit to roll her eyes as she said _"oh come on dear, the least you can do is be a gracious loser..."_

_"Uh-huh..."_ Elsa nervously took the Storm Queen's hand and shook it. The lack of hostility there seemed to be now was somehow more unnerving to Elsa than the actual hostility that there had been before, with her almost stifling a worried little laugh as she spoke up again. _"I... I'm not gonna lie, Berit, this is very confusing..."_

_"What? You thought I was going to run you through with a lightning bolt and then destroy your kingdom?"_

_"Well... yeah. Pretty much."_

Berit's smile seemed far more genuine as she patted Elsa on the back, putting the other hand on her own hip as she leaned in Elsa's direction. _"Admittedly, my first visit to Arendelle likely gave off that impression, but... well, how else was I meant to get your attention?"_

_"Wait, so... all this, you... you broke into my home, threatened my sister and caused all that chaos... just to get my attention?"_

_"Correctamundo..."_ Berit pressed Elsa's nose like a button, making a little beeping sound as she did. _"I've been an... admirer of yours for quite some time, Elsa. When I first got my powers and... and my kingdom fell, I had nothing. No one. But then you came along..."_

_"Me?"_

_"Yes! Ha ha!" _the smug and dangerous weather witch almost seemed to melt away before Elsa's very eyes, with Berit now coming off less like a threatening madwoman and more like a fangirl meeting her idol. _"I thought I was all alone, just me and my powers, but... well, I didn't believe it at first, but I hoped, no, I prayed, that you were going to real. And well, here you are, right in front of me, and... and it... it's amazing... you're amazing."_

_"Oh..."_ Berit could tell that Elsa was still somewhat dumbfounded, an almost mischievous grin now forming on her face as the cloud of mist behind the throne parted to reveal what seemed to be a dark cavern ahead. She extended her hand to the Snow Queen, with Elsa feeling less reluctant and now feeling downright tempted to accept it.

_"Come with me... we have a lot to talk about."_

* * *

"In this time of crisis, the Council believes that Arendelle and Weselton have found a common foe..."

The Duke's two henchmen remained silent as their master spoke, glaring out the window of his mansion as his hands fiddled with the chessboard on the table. "As an act of amends, they have agreed to commission three of our ships to Arendelle and give their military the necessary reinforcements in the absence of their monarchy. I have been placed in charge of procuring the forces for this mission, and so I've volunteered myself as the commanding officer."

He chuckled as he looked back to the two men, holding both queens from the chessboard as he placed them side-by-side. "Ensure the crews have as many of our supporters as possible... you may have to look deep, but they'll be there... and when sisters bring the storm witch back to face judgement for her crimes... the perfect opportunity will be staring us right in the face."

The Duke suddenly drew his sword, swatting it onto the table and splitting the chessboard in two as both the white and black queens fell to the floor, before stamping hard onto both the figures with his boot.

"And I'll go down in history as the man who saved Weselton from destruction, disposing of two magical threats with one fell swoop."

* * *

It must have been around mid-to-late morning, but the murky desolation around them still kept it dark and cold enough for the group to be gathered around a small campfire Bruni had lit in the centre of the abandoned village square. Anna sat with her arms crossed in front of the fire, with Olaf sitting next to her as they were both wrapped in Iduna's scarf.

With Mattias getting the tea ready, the three of them watched with a nostalgic glint in their eyes as Kristoff sat on the opposite end of the fire, with the two latest additions to their family sat on either side of him. Loaf and Beatrix held close to the former ice harvester as they listened to his old stories, with Kristoff more often than not agreeing with the occasional commentary that Loaf made. Anna had to bury her head in her hands to stifle her laugh several times whenever the commentary was at her expense, especially as the two called her out for getting engaged to a man she'd just met.

_"So how exactly did you speak for him?" _Beatrix asked after Kristoff had given them a demonstration of what his Sven voice sounded like, prompting him to shrug as he looked at the flames. _"I dunno, really... it kind of just happens, you know... you feel what they're thinking and..."_

"And then you just say it?" Loaf cut in, which got a nod back from Kristoff as he patted the thinner snowman on the back. _"Yeah, exactly. I guess we were just connected, really..."_

_"Kind of like Anna and Elsa..." _Mattias added as Anna nodded, only for her smile to falter a bit as she looked up at the mountain in the distance. Bruni stood on her shoulder as he also looked in the same direction, before Anna spoke up to the others. "Speaking of Elsa... when do you think she'll be back? It's been a few hours since she left."

"Well she must be okay, cause... well, I'm pretty sure I'm not flurrying or anything..." Olaf glanced down at his body as he said this, prompting Loaf and Beatrix to worryingly do the same to themselves as they remembered the story of what happened to their brother when Elsa was frozen in Ahtohallan.

_"Hmm... she did say not to do anything until she..."_ Kristoff tried to interject, though his wife cut him off as she stood up suddenly.

"It doesn't matter what she said if she's been captured or something, though! Ugh!" Anna pinched the bridge of her nose, regretful that she was letting her nerves get to her again. She calmed down a bit as she returned to her seat next to Olaf. "Sorry, I mean... What if Berit has her locked up, or what if she's in trouble, what if we... and even if nothing's happened yet, we gotta think about going up there before something _does_ happen."

They all looked up at the mountain again, with Anna squinting as hard as she could although the peak remained concealed in the thick, purple mist. "I just hope she's safe."


	12. The Rift

**_"Before I was Queen of the Storm, I was Princess of Torden. Of course, I wasn't a... typical royal heir, really... I loved to have fun, you know... running around the castle, wreaking havoc and the like. Didn't have a care in the world, not surprising seeing that I wasn't actually the first in-line anyway..."_**

* * *

The six-year old laughed as she aimlessly ran through the sunlit garden, suddenly grunting as she slammed right into the front of the taller boy when he walked out the door. The momentum that she'd been travelling at caused her to ricochet off his chest, sending her flying backwards as she landed on her backside in a puddle. _"Oh, um... sorry..."_

"Berit, for goodness' sake! Why do you never watch where you're going!" The ten-year-old snapped at the girl as he stood over her, causing Berit to tense in fright as she panted heavily and tried crawling her way backwards.

* * *

_**"The firstborn, heir to the throne and bane to my childhood was my big brother, Henrik... I wouldn't say we were quite as close as you and your sister seem to be. I really did try to be a good sister to him, but... but he hated me. Almost with every fibre of his being."**_

* * *

"Look, you're too young to understand this, Berit, but I reckon Henrik will grow to be a fine king. And I think you're destined for your own kind of greatness."

_"What is it, though?"_

The Queen shrugged with a gentle chuckle. "Hmm... I'm afraid that's something you'll have to find out for yourself. But one thing's for certain, dear... with you and your brother side-by-side, I think Torden has a brighter future than anyone could ever imagine."

* * *

**_"Mother always made it work, you know, between my brother and me. I was about seventeen when she died, and I suppose it all went downhill from there. I just... I just had to get away from it all, you know... Clear my head in the woods, like I did when I was a girl. But then I found him."_**

* * *

The castle was too far away for her to walk back to as the rain came down, so Berit had to run to a nearby cave for shelter. This was one of her mother's favourite dresses, and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin it on the day of her funeral. Finding a dry rock near the front of the cave, Berit gently sat herself down, brushing down the long strands of auburn hair out of her face as she sniffled. She was trying not to cry as she looked up at the rainy sky outside.

_"I'm sorry, Mama... I just..."_ she sighed as she wiped her face with her hand. _"You shouldn't have left. I don't care if you were sick, I just... I'm not ready yet... I'm nothing without you."_

**"You are more than you know, my child."**

Berit froze on the spot as she heard the shrivelled and raspy yet also deep and booming voice behind her, turning to the deeper part of the cave and squinting to see where it was coming from. _"Hello? Who's there...?"_

**"A friend, something you are in desperate need of, I understand... if need be, I may also be of help to you... come..."**

Glancing a final time at the rain outside, Berit swallowed her fear as she slowly crept into the cave, eventually spotting a small figure sitting at the very end of the tunnel sat on a small, stone throne. _"Who are you?"_

**"I was born in a land far from here. Since the dawn of civilisation my people have observed and practised all forms of magic that we have discovered..." **the figure remained in his throne as he spoke. **"But I was betrayed, cast out, simply because I sought to fulfil a future that they were too blind and arrogant to accept. And now, I have wandered the world for centuries, looking for an apprentice to pass on my knowledge... and then _you_ came along, Berit of Torden."**

_"Wait, how do you know my... ugh... and centuries? How are you even still alive?"_

**"The ways of my people are a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... _unnatural_."** a flash of lightning caused Berit to jolt back as it exposed the pale green face and the pointed ears that protruded from either side of the black hooded cloak that he wore. His frame and stature was skeletal with the decay of his old age, with his skin being almost rock-like in it's texture with rotten mould and moss covering him and his throne in many places.

The decrepit old troll smiled at Berit as another bolt flashed, revealing the sharp fangs that protrude from his wrinkled, rotten lips. **"Come closer, my dear... I have a proposition for you..."**

_"What kind of proposition...?"_ Berit raised an eyebrow, now being more interested than before.

**"The chance for you to finally emerge from the shadow of your brother... to find your own kind of greatness..."**

* * *

_**"In the months leading up to Henrik's coronation, I would visit this little old hermit as often as I could. He taught me how to master the Storm, and what I was destined to do for the world. I'd never felt more at home."**_

* * *

Berit exhaled as she got down on one knee in front of the old troll. _"I am ready, master... today my brother takes his place as king, and I must take my place as well..."_

**"Good... good..."** she was slightly surprised when the old troll stood up from the throne, slowly making his way over to his apprentice as he kept his hood up. He held out his hand, prompting Berit to hold out hers to him as he used the other to place something in it. When he pulled his hands away, Berit glanced in surprise at the small, purple gem in her hand.

_"Um... forgive me, master, but... what is this?"_

**"Your final test."** the troll said in a foreboding tone as he returned to the throne. **"The day I was banished, my research was stripped from all my people's history books, and the potions I had created from it destroyed. This crystal is my legacy. The only one of it's kind. And I entrust it's power to you..."**

He relaxed on the throne as Berit gazed at the gem in her palm, as it grew hotter in her hand and a sound almost like a voice began to emanate from it. **"Now, my young apprentice. The time has come for you to fulfil your destiny. Crush the crystal within your hand, and you will gain the power of the Storm!"**

Berit wasted no time following her master's words, clenching her fist around the small fragile gem as it broke instantly. She winced and grit her teeth as she felt the shards of it cutting into her hand, fighting through the pain while bolts of jagged, golden lightning began shooting out between the fingers of her fist. The old troll let out a cackling laugh as his frail body began to crumble into dust, surprising Berit as she reached out to him with her free hand. _"Wait... master!"_

_**ZZZAAP!**_

Berit grunted as another lightning bolt flew from the throne into her face, emblazoning the vibrant, purple shape over her left eye as she finally felt the power coursing through her veins. She could hear her master's voice still, echoing through the cavern on all sides of her as she rose.

**_"Heed my words, Berit of Torden! You know the purpose I have given you, but you cannot achieve it alone!"_** Berit tried to listen through the agony she was in.

**_In Arendelle's fair kingdom, an Ice Queen shall appear  
__Born on the dawn of Winter, alone, she stays in fear  
Although her power's hidden, one day she'll let it go  
__And the two of you will shower the world, in an eternal storm of snow_**

**_"RRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!" _**The lightning Berit summoned tore the stones from the roof of the cave, surrounding Berit in a tornado of purple mist as the pinkish colour drained from her skin and her the auburn of her long, flowing hair faded into a deep, vibrant shade of purple. _**"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haa! Yes... YES!"**_

* * *

_**"I was reborn, and given a new purpose by the powers I possessed. For just a moment, it seemed perfect, just as mother would have wanted. My brother as King Of Torden, with me as Queen of the Storm. But alas... it wasn't meant to be."**_

* * *

"Berit... what have you done? What have you done!"

_"Just listen, Henrik, please... it's alright, I... I admittedly don't look great, but that's a minor side effect. I mean, look at my powers, they... they're incredible! You saw what I did just then, didn't you?" _Berit had a smug and lighthearted tone in her voice as she pointed to the table that she'd incinerated with her lightning. She was still somewhat shocked by the anger in her brother's tone, soon taking a few steps back as he authoritatively stood over her.

"Why would you do this, Berit? Why? **WHY?!**"

_"I just... I just wanted to be special..."_

**"Special?!"** Henrik shook his sister as a deep fear and fury seemed to fill his eyes. **"What were you thinking! Look at yourself, you've become a monster!"**

Berit was taken off-guard by her brother's words, glancing towards the other people in the room as they all stared at her. She wasn't a mind-reader, but you didn't have to be one to know they all thought the same as him. Her eyes became misty as she started to hyperventilate, pulling away from Henrik as she said _"brother, I... I'm sorry, but..."_

"Berit... **BERIT!**" He called after her as she ran out of the room, clutching her face in her hands as she cried uncontrollably. Berit eventually found her way to her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her as she slumped down in front of it with her face in her knees.

* * *

Elsa sighed as Berit wiped her eyes, sniffling a bit as she looked at her reflection in the water. They'd been sitting barefoot in this cavern while Berit told her story, having lit a fire to see each other on the bank next to the small pond. _"He called me a monster... who would say that to their own sister?"_

_"Anna would never."_ Elsa nodded as she wiped her own misty eyes. _"So what happened?"_

_"After that, the entire kingdom was afraid of me. I had no choice but to leave, they'd have hunted me otherwise. Then... then a great disaster happened to our land. I could have stopped it but... but my brother pushed me away. He hated me so much that he sacrificed the entire kingdom for it!"_

She sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, glancing a smile Elsa's way as she put her hand on her shoulder. _"After Torden was destroyed, I... I was all alone, just me and my powers. I knew what I had to do, but... but I couldn't do it alone. But then I found you, Elsa..."_

Elsa smiled as she cupped Berit's face in her hand, with Berit welcoming the affection as Elsa stroked the lightning bolt shape over her eye. _"Berit... come back with me."_

_"Eh?"_

_"Come back with me. I can help you. We all will..."_ Elsa had to wipe her own tears as she said this, but Berit seemed to remain reluctant. _"Elsa, I... I don't know. Your kingdom and I didn't really start on good terms, you know..."_

_"That's all in the past. Please..."_ Elsa sighed. _"Let me give you what my friends gave me."_

_"Elsa, you... you don't know what this means to me, I... with you by my side, we... we could change the world!" _Elsa was slightly taken off guard when Berit pulled her into a tight hug, taking a moment before she returned the embrace as the Storm Queen buried her face in her shoulder.

Both were gushing excitedly as they separated, with Elsa saying _"oh Berit, there's so much you need to see in the Enchanted Forest! The spirits, the Northuldra, the... wow... oh you have gotta see Ahtohallan!"_

_"Oh I'm sure I do, I'm sure I do, ha ha..."_ Berit exhaled as she took Elsa's hands, a worrying little frown on her face. _"What about your kingdom? Your sister? I wouldn't want her to get in the way of..."_

_"Oh yeah, Anna... um... well, it'll be a lot to take in, but... I think she'll understand."_ Elsa stifled a laugh. _"Besides, she's sprung much worse things on me over the years."_

She glanced down at the leather outfit Berit was wearing, raising an eyebrow as she said_ "well... I suppose I could help you look a little more presentable."_

* * *

"Alright team, I think we've waited long enough..." Anna threw her satchel over herself as she got to her feet, tying her scabbard to her belt as Bruni clambered down her arm and clutched himself to her right hand. Kristoff sighed as he and the others stayed sat down, saying _"Anna... I'm sure Elsa is fine."_

"You were sure about that hours ago." Anna put her right hand to the hilt of her sword as she prepared to unsheathe it. "I'm going up there to look for her. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome."

Beatrix nervously itched the back of her head, straightening her glasses as she said _"but Anna, what if the Storm Queen has Elsa locked up, like you said?"_

"Well if she does, Beatrix, she'll have me to deal with! **AAGGH!**" Anna pulled the sword out of it's scabbard, causing everyone to jolt back in shock as the blade was suddenly coated in blazing orange flames. The fire also surrounded the Queen in a circle as her eyes turned orange and her hair almost began to flicker as if it were among the flames. Anna let go of the sword after a split second, with Bruni letting go of her hand as her eyes and hair went back to normal and the flames vanished as if they were never there.

_"Wh... what on Earth was that?!"_ Mattias shouted out as they all gazed wide-eyed and dumbfounded at the now smoking sword on the ground, with Anna glaring at Bruni as he smiled naively back at her. Her head pricked up as she heard her sister's voice coming from about a hundred yards behind her. _**"Anna!"**_

**"Elsa!"**

Elsa ran over to her sister as Anna jumped over the stone she'd been sitting on with Olaf, the two taking each other's hands as they both looked and sounded concerned. Elsa, who had just managed to see what Anna had done back then, said _"what just happened? I saw fire, and... and it was all around you, what... what was that?"_

"Oh, you know, just... just your little buddy fooling around." Anna chuckled breathlessly, still having not quite gotten over the incident with the sword. "What about you? Did you find... **BERIT!**"

Everyone else tensed up as Anna spun her sister around, almost hiding behind Elsa as the Storm Queen came into view a few dozen feet away. "Elsa, do something!"

_"Ugh... Anna, it's okay... she's with me..."_

"Huh?!"

_"It's fine... we've sorted everything out, you... ha ha... you can let go of me now..."_ Elsa's voice was reassuring, causing the others to calm down slightly as Berit came closer. _"Sorry, Berit... it's just... you know..."_

_"A lot to take in?"_ Berit raised a smug eyebrow at Elsa, who chuckled back as Anna came out from behind her sister. Anna took a moment to notice that the short-haired woman was now wearing an off-the-shoulder purple dress, not unlike the blue one Elsa had made for herself on the day of her coronation. The intricate patterning of the fabric made it look like it had been stitched out of lightning bolts, likely because it was, and her bare arms were slightly more toned than either Anna or Elsa had expected. Even with her hair still cropped into it's messy pixie cut, the dress made her look a lot more glamorous, perhaps even dazzling, than intimidating.

Anna kept a somewhat sour scowl on her face as the others came to stand behind her and Elsa, with Berit taking a quick glance at Loaf and Beatrix as they stayed behind Kristoff. _"Well... you've been busy..."_

"Busy looking for you." Anna put the most bitter, blunt tone that she possibly could into her voice, prompting Elsa to nudge her as she said _"come on, sis... I told you. It's all just a big misunderstanding."_

"Misunderstanding? Elsa, she... ugh..." Anna forced a grin onto her face as she looked at Berit and linked her arm with Elsa's, while Bruni landed on her shoulder again. "Excuse us... we need to have a little... sisterly talk."

_"Oh yes, Queen Ann-a, by all means."_ there was smug smirk on Berit's face, which along with her mispronunciation of Anna's name practically caused the Queen's blood to boil as she pulled her sister aside so the rest of the group couldn't hear them. An awkward silence overcame the rest of the group as they all looked at Berit, with Beatrix speaking up first as she said _"my name's Beatrix, um... no offense, but I'm not getting a very good vibe from you..."_

_"None taken, dear. None taken..."_ Berit smirked in a more friendly manner as she crossed her arms and they all looked at the sisters talking a few feet away.

Elsa rolled her eyes as she said _"look, Anna, I know it's a bit of a surprise, but..."_

"Please don't tell me you actually trust her, Elsa."

_"What? Anna, I've talked to her. She's not what you think."_

"Well I think she's a crazy lady with sparkle fingers who attacked our kingdom! Pretty sure that's exactly who she is and what she did!"

"She's been through a lot, okay? You wouldn't understand." it only took a couple of seconds for Elsa to regret what she'd said, gently taking Anna's shoulders with a sigh. _"Ugh... look, I'm sorry, I didn't... what I meant was that you don't know the ways she's struggled, but... but I do. I can help her be better, Anna. The same way you helped me."_

"Elsa..." Anna glanced back at Berit, who remained nonchalant as she casually waved back. "Elsa, I just don't know..."

_"It'll be fine, I promise..."_ Elsa had a warm smile on her face as Anna nodded, before adding _"we're pretty much us done here anyway. We'll see you guys back at Arendelle."_

"Wait, what? Arendelle?!" Anna pulled away from her sister. "Aren't _you_ coming back with us?"

_"Well yeah, but... look, I really wanna show Berit what Ahtohallan looks like and I thought I'd take her on a ride over there while you get everyone back home safe."_

"Elsa, are you serious right now?!"

_"Oh come on, Anna... we'll be gone like, an hour, tops. Probably, anyway."_ Elsa brushed her sister's bangs out of her face. _"Besides. Everyone's gonna be missing their Queen."_

Anna felt that awful feeling inside again, somehow even worse than it had been before. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the slightly red tint on her cheeks faded back to their usual colour. "Okay... just don't stay out too long, got it?"

_"Sure..."_ Elsa gave her sister a hug, but separated before Anna could return the embrace as she held her out for the Storm Queen. _"So, Berit... shall we?"_

_"Hmm... of course." _Berit took the Snow Queen's hand, shooting a victorious little smirk Anna's way that Elsa didn't see as they walked together to the edge of the harbour. Elsa gave out her mother's beckoning call, summoning the _Nøkk_ from the depths of the waves as she mounted it's back and waited for Berit to sit behind her.

Berit stayed on the edge, pressing her index finger and thumb together as she said _"well if it's all the same to you, Elsa... I'd rather travel on Lynnedslag."_

**_"Who?"_** Anna and Elsa spoke in-sync despite the distance, only for Berit to snap her fingers as a crackling came from the dark clouds over the mountain.

Anna and the others ducked down as several jagged bolts of lightning flew down from mountain and landed at Berit's feet, creating the large, crackling canine out of electricity as Berit mounted his back unharmed. Elsa grinned in admiration at this, before she gave her commands to the water spirit. _"Take us to Ahtohallan..."_

Anna watched as the _Nøkk_ and the lightning wolf took off at a fast pace, the former galloping across the waves while the latter flew just overhead. She felt her nostrils flaring as the red colour came back to her face and she clenched her fists. She turned around to the others, all of them being surprised by the sheer fury that was boiling out of her silent body.

"Anna..." Olaf said as his siblings stayed behind him. "You okay?"

"I'm... fine..." she spoke through gritted teeth before looking to the ship. "Everybody get on board. Come on, hurry up!"

_"Anna, wait..."_ Kristoff called after his wife as she impatiently went across the pier and climbed on board the deck by herself, following her up with the others as he said _"look, I know you're mad about Elsa and Berit, but..."_

"I know what you're gonna say, and no. We're not going back to Arendelle." Anna grunted as she started throwing some of the heavier crates into the water to lighten the ship and undoing the ropes tying the vessel to the dock. "We gotta go to Ahtohallan. And I gotta talk some sense back into Elsa."

_"Anna..."_ Mattias stopped talking as his Queen glared at him, putting up his hands in surrender as he accepted that her decision was final. She nodded as she went to the wheel of the ship, looking in the direction where the magical creatures had gone.

"You wanna play that little game, huh?" she muttered under her breath, hoping that Berit would hear her. "Alright, I'll play."


	13. Defying Gravity - The Truth Hurts

It must have taken Elsa and Berit about an hour to get to Ahtohallan. Not due to the distance, but rather because they'd spent the majority of the journey doing tricks with their powers to try and one-up or impress one another. At one point, the pair of them were standing on top of an iceberg that Elsa had formed for them. This was where the Snow Queen demonstrated how she could create pillars for herself to jump across all the way to another iceberg, to which Berit responded by using her lightning bolts to launch herself over Elsa's head to an even further iceberg.

Elsa had a look of awe and approval on her face as she had a hand on her hip, calling across to Berit in a sarcastic, affectionate manner. _"So what exactly are your limits?"_

_"Limits? Pah... whoever heard of such a ridiculous thing!"_ Berit snarked off with a cackle as she leapt off the iceberg and landed on Lynnedslag, which prompted Elsa to jump off of hers onto the _Nøkk_ as they took off across the waves. They continued several death-defying stunts with one another as their destination came closer, both of them letting loose with their powers as they found themselves singing a duet.

I'm through accepting limits  
Cause someone says they're so

_Some things you cannot change_

But till you try, you'll never know

I once was so afraid of  
Losing love I guess I'd lost  
Well, if that's love  
It comes at much too high a cost

I'd sooner buy  
Defying gravity

_I think I'll try_  
_Defying gravity_

**_And they won't pull us down_**

The sun had vanished compeltely by the time Ahtohallan was visible to them. When their steeds arrived, the two Queens dismounted their rides as the _Nøkk_ returned to the depths. Elsa was like an excited schoolgirl as she walked forwards a few paces, saying _"alright, come on... you are gonna love this..."_

_"Elsa, wait..."_ Berit stayed on the edge of the glacier as Lynnedslag flew off back into the clouds. Elsa was slightly confused at this reluctance, slowly walking back over to Berit and said _"what? What's wrong?"_

She itched the back of her head. _"I just... I dunno. Are you sure I'm worthy to see this place? I mean... I'm not pure magic, I just..."_

_"Limits? Pah... whoever heard of such a ridiculous thing?"_ Elsa said back in a playful tone, cupping Berit's face affectionately. _"Of course you're worthy. __We're in this together now. And that's how it should be."_

_"Hmm... you really mean that?"_

_"Like you said, we're going to change the world. Bring magic and humanity together in peace forever. The greatness our mothers would have wanted for us."_ Elsa took the Storm Queen's hands in her own, both of them smiling as they looked each other in the eyes. _"It's your purpose, Berit. Our purpose."_

_Unlimited_  
_Together we're... unlimited_

Together we'll be the greatest team  
There's ever been

_Dreams, the way we plan them_

If we work in tandem

**_There's no fight we cannot win_**

**_Just you and I_**  
**_Defying gravity_**

**_We're flying high_**  
**_Defying gravity_**

_And soon you'll match me in renown_

They stopped together at the end of the path, holding hands still as the entire interior of the glacier was cast in a bright, almost ethereal white. Berit was in awe of the thousands of blue crystals rising into the sky, while Elsa went wide-eyed as the roof of the glacier opened up, with the aurora shining bright over their heads.

With no more rules, and no more laws

_No kingdom that there is or was_

**_Is ever gonna bring... us... down!_**

Berit was cut off as the white mists of Ahtohallan suddenly pushed her away from Elsa, with the latter not even noticing the fog surrounding her on all sides. The Snow Queen kept her eyes close as she finished the song, putting all her heart into it as she projected the highest note possible out of her lungs.

_Ah-ah-ah-aah!_

Elsa was laughing heartily as she opened her eyes, which widened when she realised that the mist had consumed and isolated her, and that her companion was nowhere in sight. _"Uh... Berit? Berit, can you hear me? Berit?!"_

* * *

**_1, 2, 3 together, clap together, snap together  
__You and me together, knees together, freeze together_**

**_Up or down together, princess crown together_**  
**_Always be together, you and me_**

Anna let an amused little smirk break through her frustrated scowl as she watched Olaf and his siblings on the lower deck, the three of them almost perfectly recreating an old secret handshake that she and Elsa had taught their first snowman not long after the Great Thaw. Seeing this nostalgic memory helped to put her mind a little more at ease, with the conflicting thoughts and feelings dying down a bit as she almost forgot how frustrated she was feeling.

_"Anna..."_ Kristoff's voice snapped her out of this brief phase of bliss, prompting Anna to clear her throat as she wiped the single tear from her right eye.

"Um... uh-huh? What is it, Kristoff?"

_"We're almost at Ahtohallan..."_

* * *

_"Elsa?! Is this normal?!"_

Berit called at the mist to no reply, freezing on the spot as she turned to see the vast white field of snow ahead of her. The field was populated with hundreds of white sculptures dancing and moving around like slow pictures.

Among the many events and statues that she saw here, the ones that most notably grabbed her attention were the sculptures of of two slightly familiar young girls playing with a much more familiar snowman, and a figure that resembled the current Queen of Arendelle being danced around by the eccentric Duke of Weselton. **_"Like a chicken with the face of a monkey!"_**

_"Huh... oooooooooo-kay then... Elsa?!"_

* * *

**_"Ha ha ha!"_** the excited laughter of a six year-old got Elsa's attention, prompting her to turn around as she saw the mist had recreated a large garden where the young girl was running around. Elsa thought this child was oddly familiar, with her suspicions confirmed when the girl accidentally bumped into the taller boy as he entered.

**"Berit, for goodness' sake! Why do you never watch where you're going!"**

She grimaced at the sight of the ten-year-old Henrik snapping at his younger sister, watching Berit to tense in fright as she tried crawling her way backwards. After a moment, his frown changed into a warm, wholesome smile as he extended his hand to the girl. **"Alright, come on... up you get now..."**

_"Wait... what?"_ Elsa was taken aback by the sight of the boy pulling the girl to her feet and gently brushing her messy hair out of her eyes, seeming oddly affectionate considering all that Berit had told her about Henrik. She didn't really have time to ponder this before the mist pushed her away from this vision, bringing her to another one where Berit was being put to bed by her mother.

**_"I still don't know why he's the one who has to be King... I know he's older, but... but I'd be a much funner Queen than him."_**

Elsa let out a smirk at this, before the next vision took over. It seemed to be in the woods, where a long-haired, teenage Berit was speaking to the hooded, decrepit troll she'd mentioned before in her stories. **"This world, it... it's poisoned. ****Man's greed and fear of our magic is a sickness that leads the planet closer to destruction with each passing day... they must be educated in our ways for the Earth to survive..."**

Elsa remained silent as she cupped her own chin, watching as the troll continued and Berit took in his words. **"With the power of the Storm, my apprentice, you will give mankind a fresh start... put an end to their toxic civilisation, and from the ashes of their world... create a better one, one ruled by the magic of the elements... with you as the Storm Queen. This is the purpose you were born to fulfil, Berit..."**

_"No... no..."_ Elsa stood between the two sculptures, though neither could hear what she had to say. She looked at Berit's statue, which remained unresponsive. _"That's just his fear talking... our worlds can coexist, if we teach them to understand... this isn't the only way..."_

The mist pushed her away from the vision again, now bringing her to what seemed to be the ballroom of Torden's royal palace. She saw Berit there, now with her signature mark on her face, while she sent a lightning bolt into a table full of people. Henrik, who now had a strong, tall build with a small goatee on his chin, took his sister aside to speak to her.

**"Why would you do this, Berit? Why? WHY?!"**

**_"I just... I just wanted to be special..."_**

**"Special?!"** Henrik shook his sister. **"What were you thinking! Look at yourself, you've become a monster!"**

Berit was taken off-guard by her brother's words, glancing towards the other people in the room as they all stared at her. Her eyes became misty as she started to hyperventilate, pulling away from Henrik as she said **_"brother, I... I'm sorry, but..."_**

**"Berit... BERIT!"** Henrik ran after his sister as she ran out of the room, clutching her face in her hands as she cried uncontrollably. Elsa was surprised when he ran grabbed her by the arms and turned her around, now having a more gentle, concerned tone in his voice as he brushed her long hair out of her face.

**"Listen to me, sister... this power you have, it... it's dangerous. And the people, well... they won't know how to react..."**

Berit had tears in her eyes as she nodded nervously, prompting Henrik to sigh before he pulled her into a hug. Berit's arms remained at her side, not returning the embrace and almost impatiently waiting for her brother to release her from it. **"It's alright, though, we'll... we'll get through this... together. No harm will come to you, Berit, I promise. Just go upstairs for an hour or so, til I clear out the others... come down, and... and we'll discuss it when we've calmed down a bit..."**

Elsa watched as the vision of Berit ran into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her as she slumped down in front of it with her face in her knees. The Snow Queen knelt down in front of the vision as it seemingly continued to sob, reaching her hand forward as she whispered under her breath. _"Your brother... he was just trying to protect you."_

It was then Elsa realised that the tearful young princess wasn't sobbing anymore. She was laughing, cackling even, as she raised her head to reveal the stained makeup on her face. **_"You were right, master..."_** she said to herself as she looked to the table on her bedside to see a knife there. **_"You were right about everything!"_**

Elsa had her hand over her mouth as Berit grabbed the knife, aggressively hacking off the long strands of her hair as she continued to laugh at her own reflection in the mirror. The wall behind the vision of Berit suddenly disappeared to reveal Henrik again, now wearing a night gown as he took a kettle off of the fireplace. Elsa watched anxiously as Berit entered, now sporting the pixie cut that Elsa recognised as she remained in the shadows of the doorway.

Henrik smiled at her, saying **"ah, good... I um... I made some tea, Berit. We'll just sit down and chat about this, eh? Find a solution."**

Berit remained silent, still keeping her face hidden as she nodded to her brother. Henrik sat down facing the fireplace as he poured the tea, which caused Elsa to realise Berit was holding a sword behind her back as she walked up behind him. Elsa went wide-eyed as Berit raised the blade over her unsuspecting sibling, reaching out with a loud _**"NO!" **_as she brought it down with a resounding _**SHING!**_

The mist set in before Elsa could see the result of the attack, surrounding the Snow Queen on all sides again as Berit's voice echoed around in the wind. Elsa felt a rush of emotions from everything she'd seen. Anger, betrayal, fury, misery, confusion, it was all spilling out at once, and it only got worse when a final vision appeared showing Berit standing in the centre of her kingdom's square as everyone looked to her with terror.

_**"People of Torden!"**_ she bellowed out as she clenched her fists, causing dark clouds to rise over the kingdom as everyone cried out in fear. _**"If you want a monster, I WILL GIVE YOU A MONSTER!"**_

_"No... no-no-no-no-no!" _Elsa ran away from the vision with her hands over her eyes as it showed the lightning bolts striking down the kingdom, burning houses to the ground as the people luckily enough to avoid incineration ran away, with Berit cackling all the way through as it happened. _"Stop... stop! **I SAID STOP!**"_

* * *

Elsa turned around to blast the vision with her ice, clearing the mist away as she stood alone in the vast, white field of snow. She stayed silently like this as the weight of these revelations hit her like a ton of bricks, eventually collapsing onto her knees with her face in her hands as she cried. About a minute must have passed before she heard the voice a few feet in front of her, looking up at the real Berit as the latter had her arms crossed nonchalantly.

_"Admittedly, I was hoping to break it to you a bit more gradually than that..."_ she put her hand on her hip with a grin as Elsa got back on her feet. _"But I suppose you would have found out eventually... the sooner the better, eh?"_

Elsa almost had a snarl in her tone as she clenched her fists. _"You... you killed them. You killed them all. Why would you do that?"_

_"You saw what happened. It was my brother's fault. He hated me..."_

_"No... no, you hated him! You resented him because he was gonna rule the kingdom and you weren't!"_

_"Yeah, and?!"_ Berit suddenly snapped back. _"You know how hard it is being the younger princess, Elsa? The nobody? **The spare?!** I finally found a way out of his big, fat shadow and he called me a monster!"_

**_"Then you proved him right!" _**Elsa's words took Berit off-guard, causing the Storm Queen to form a bitter scowl on her face as she exhaled.**_ "Your brother loved you, Berit, and you betrayed him!"_**

**_"Pah! Oh yes, of course, love!" _**Berit made a sound almost like a vomit as she rolled her eyes.**_ "Oh please, love is just another word for distraction! Weakness! Look what it did to my brother, heck, look where it got your parents!"_**

This remark enraged Elsa to send a powerful blast of ice at Berit, with the Storm Queen putting her hand up to deflect it before she sent her own lightning blast at Elsa. The Snow Queen was sent back several feet by the blast, landing on her back as Berit pinched the bridge of her nose.

_"Come now, Elsa..."_ Berit calmly offered her hand as Elsa pulled herself back up._ "__We've a whole future ahead of us now... whole new world to make... let's not start it off doing something we'll both regret... we're in this together now, and that's how it should be..."_

_"No. The only regret I have is ever thinking I could trust you." _Elsa stood tall and defiantly as she got closer and closer to Berit's face. _"I am not a monster. I'm Elsa of Arendelle. Daughter of Agnarr and Iduna, and the proud sister of Queen Anna. My loyalty lies with my people, and I will do everything I can to protect them."_

Berit had a straight look on her face as Elsa came closer to her, not showing a single emotion as the Snow Queen finished her sentance. _"You're insane, and you need to be stopped. And I will **never** join you! **Ever!**"__  
_

Elsa let out a surprised, high-pitched yelp as Berit's fist connected with her left cheek, clutching the left side of her face as she stumbled back. She wasn't able to defend herself as Berit suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders, keeping Elsa bent down as she sent a kneecap into her stomach. The Snow Queen wheezed out weakly as the air rushed out of her lungs and she collapsed on the floor at Berit's feet, trying not to cry as she looked up at the furious weather witch.

**_"You're so bloody selfish!" _**Berit snarled as she pressed her foot down hard on Elsa's forearm, preventing the latter from hitting her with a surprise ice blast as she still held her stomach with her other hand. **_"Your power could reshape the world as we know it! And all you do is parade around making ice castles and talking snowmen with your idiot sister!"_**

Elsa coughed as the white snow was stained red by the few drops of blood leaking out of her lips, wincing with her eyes shut as Berit released her arm and grabbed her by the hair. **_"Humanity doesn't deserve to coexist with magic, and this planet isn't big enough for them both! Mankind deserves to be wiped off the face of the Earth forever!"_**

_"Please... please..."_ Elsa cried out helplessly as she was dragged to her feet, with Berit gripping both her hands tight to keep her ice away before she threw her aside, causing Elsa to hit the floor again as the Storm Queen's nostrils began to flare. _**"I wanted us to fix the world, but you're being so... so... so difficult!"**_

I hope you're happy  
I hope you're happy now

I hope you're happy how you hurt this cause forever  
I hope you think you're clever

Elsa tried to get up again, only for Berit to place her foot hard on her back and force her down onto the ground. Berit clenched her fist as a sharp, jagged lightning bolt emerged from her hand. The Snow Queen knew exactly what Berit planned to do with this bolt, still trying to force herself up which prompted Berit to further press her foot down.

I hope you're proud how you would grovel in submission  
Defy my great ambitions

_"I really wanted us to do this together..."_ the defenceless, pinned woman felt her attacker raising the weapon over her head, awaiting the killing blow as she tensed her eyes shut. _"But I've worked too hard for even you to stand in my way!"_

So though I can't imagine how  
I hope you're happy  
**Now!**

**"Hey sparkle fingers!"** they both went wide-eyed as they heard the voice, turning to see the furious redhead standing with her sword drawn a hundred yards away. **"Get away from my sister!"**

_"Well-well-well... look at this, Elsa..."_ Berit took her foot off of Elsa as she saw Kristoff, Mattias and the snowmen all standing behind the Queen. _"Looks like the cavalry's all here. That's alright, I suppose. Having you all in one place'll make it easier to kill you all at once. Hmm..."_

_**"HEE-YAH!"**_ Berit was taken off her feet as Elsa sent a powerful blast into her back, which sent the Storm Queen flying over the other's heads as she landed hard on the wall behind them. Anna ran over to her dizzied sister as she got to her knees, skidding down next to her as she helped her up. _"Anna, what... what are you doing here?"_

"Getting you away from her!" Anna snapped as she cupped Elsa's face and tilted it to face her, the burning fury quickly fading from her cheeks when she saw the small but nasty browning bruise under her sister's left eye. Her tone was almost motherly but _very_ angry as Elsa tried to hold back tears, preventing either of them from noticing Berit getting back on her feet. "Did _she _do this to you?!"

_"Anna, I thought... I thought she was... **LOOK OUT!**"_ Elsa pushed her sister aside as Berit sent a lightning bolt their way, deflecting it with an ice shield as Mattias, Kristoff and the snowmen all tried to restrain the Storm Queen. It proved to be no use as Berit forced them all off, kicking Beatrix and Loaf away as she grabbed Olaf and threw him into Mattias, before twisting Kristoff's arm with her own.

_**"RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"** _her shriek echoed across the entire glacier as her lightning bolts tore through the walls of ice. The very foundation of Ahtohallan began to crack beneath their feet as this happened, with Elsa holding Anna close as the Queen shouted **"everyone get to the ship!"**

Kristoff picked up Loaf and Olaf, with Beatrix trailing behind slightly as they ran with Mattias to the exit. Berit ceased her furious screams as she saw the two sisters following the group, reading another bladed lightning bolt as she gave chase.

Elsa created a wall of ice at the cavern to block Berit from following them as they all went outside towards the edge of the glacier where their ship was docked. Though this bought them a few seconds at best as Berit used her bolt to incinerate the obstacle effortlessly.

Kristoff threw Loaf and Olaf onto the ship as Mattias loosened the ropes, while the sisters prepared to board as Elsa gave her mother's beckoning call to the _Nøkk. _The water horse pushed the ship forwards at a rapid pace, with Anna not noticing Beatrix's high-pitched scream as the others all held tight to anything they could get their hands on. Berit ran to the very edge of the glacier as the ship went out of sight, collapsing onto her knees as she let out an even more strained, ear-piercing cry.

_**"AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH! ELSA! This isn't over!"** _she called out with all the energy she had left as the ship completely vanished from her view, being too exhausted now to follow. Her eyes widened as she glanced down to the small, fat figure floating in the water where the ship used to be, a grin forming on her face as she snapped her fingers to summon Lynnedslag.

_"Hmm... well, it looks like we're not the only ones who got left behind..."_


	14. Breaking Points - Into The Aurora

**"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"**

With the _Nøkk's _increased power and speed the ship took just under ten minutes to get back to Arendelle, with the momentum causing it to crash hard on to the beach and fling everyone overboard. They all grunted and groaned as they landed on the muddy riverbank, having ended up on the other side of the island about a quarter of a mile from the North Mountain.

Despite the situation they were currently in, the sisters wasted no time starting an intense quarrel regarding what had happened, with Elsa holding her shoulders like she always did when she was upset as she started walking into the woods and Anna followed behind her. "Elsa, get back here! we need to talk about this!"

_"I thought I told you all to go back to Arendelle!"_

"Oh yeah, sure, because that clearly would have been the better decision, wouldn't it?!"

_"I had it under control."_

"Under control? Well, sorry that you getting tossed around like a ragdoll didn't give me that impression!"

_"You wouldn't have seen that if you had listened to me!"_

"Why are you saying that like it's a good thing?! Elsa, I saved your life! Again!"

_"Oh well congratulations, then! That's another guilt trip you can throw on my shoulders for the rest of our lives! I hope it was worth nearly getting everyone else killed too!"_

"Ha, like you care about that! Like you ever cared!" this remark prompted Elsa to snap back around again, pointing her index finger in Anna's face.

_**"Don't you dare tell me I don't care! Okay?! Just don't, Anna!"**_

"What else am I supposed to say? Hmm? Ever since the Enchanted Forest you've been spending more and more time with the spirits, off doing who knows what while I'm stuck at home carrying everyone on my shoulders!"

_"What are you talking about? I've been visiting all the time!"_

"Only when I write! Honestly, when's the last time you actually came around like _oh hi, sis, just thought I'd drop by and see how you were doing, hope you're not feeling utterly miserable running a kingdom that I basically just dropped on you!_ Huh? You've never done that once!"

Elsa stayed silent as Anna continued. "You said a bridge has two sides, but mine's the only one actually trying to connect! And what's even worse is that I'm constantly being made a mouthpiece for how great and powerful my sister is, because everyone looks right through me and they just see you! But I'm sick of always being the spare!"

_"Anna, come on. All this, it's... it's just stupid."_

"Oh, so now you think I'm stupid?!"

_"No, of course not, I just..."_

**"You just said that!"**

**_"I said you were saying stupid things, not that you were stupid!" _**Elsa groaned as she took her sister's shoulders. **_"Look, all this stuff about being the spare, it's just your insecurities talking! You're being no different from Berit!"_**

The others all stood behind them as they just managed to hear this part of the conversation. The scowl of betrayal on Anna's face suggested that she took grave offence to that comparison, which prompted Elsa to backtrack a bit as she said _"Anna, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to say that..."_

"Oh no, it's fine..." Anna sniffled a bit as she motioned her hand towards the bruise on her sister's face. "I just... I didn't think I'd be on the same level as the person who gave you that, that's all... though I guess you're not _quite_ stupid enough to trust me, right?"

Elsa's eyes widened as she put her hand over her heart and her eyes started to mist up, shaking her head as she turned away again and walked away into the woods. Anna didn't follow her this time, crossing her arms with a groan as she passed the others and headed back to the riverbank. Kristoff was the first to follow after his wife with the rest following behind, as Olaf tried to break the silence.

"Anna... it's not Elsa's fault. Berit used her."

The Queen responded with a groan-like sigh, one that seemed to indicate she was agreeing with his words but was too frustrated to admit it. Mattias suddenly wide-eyed when he noticed something with the snowmen. Or rather, _someone_ who _wasn't_ with the snowmen. _"Forgive my intrusions, Olaf, but... I distinctly remember there being three of you..."_

"Uh... yeah, there are three of us." Anna and Kristoff both turned to the snowmen when they realised what Mattias meant. "There's me, Loaf, and Beatr... wait... where's Beatrix?"

"Beatrix... **Beatrix!**" Anna darted towards the shipwreck, calling out the snow-girl's name again. **"Sweetheart, where are you?! BEATRIX!"**

"Oh man..." Loaf itched the back of his head as Anna froze on the spot, still facing away from the others as she clenched her fists and her heavy breathing became more audible. "I think we left her behind..."

Both snowmen went dead silent as the Queen turned back, her teeth biting into her bottom lip through her scowl as she glared at them both. Olaf gulped, before he softly said "um... Anna, I'm sensing some rising anger..."

**"Because I am angry! I told you all to stay together! It's the one thing I asked, and you couldn't even do that right?!" **Anna's face went red as she suddenly shouted, causing Loaf to cower behind his sibling as she walked towards them, with the rage practically leaking out of her as she kept pressing. **"Olaf, I am stressed out, okay?! I'm the Queen of Arendelle, Sven is gone, my sister thinks she can just keep ditching me whenever she feels like it, and now Beatrix is probably being held hostage by a crazy lady who wants us all dead! Everyone's looking to Elsa to fix all this, but I'm the one who's stuck doing it! And I can't do my job if I have to keep playing babysitter to a bunch of stupid talking snowmen!"**

The Queen went off in a huff after her rant, muttering furiously under her breath as she kicked over one of the crates in her way. Everyone else stayed silent, with Kristoff sighing as he went into the woods where Elsa had gone. Mattias slumped down onto a rock as he put his hand to his face. _"Well... that went as well as could be expected..."_

* * *

Kristoff only had to walk for about five minutes before he found the Snow Queen in the centre of a moonlit glade, sitting alone on a small log in front of the pond. She turned to see him, sniffling as she wiped her tear-stained face with the back of her hand. _"Um... how is she?"_

_"She's mad. At herself, mostly."_ Kristoff's tone of voice was gentle as he slowly sat next to her on the log, both of them looking down at the pond. _"So how are you?"_

Elsa shrugged. _"I just... I just feel so awful about this. Not just Berit, but... everything. I never would have abdicated the throne if I knew it'd make her like this..."_

_"Nah... I know you're the oldest and all, but you have a responsibility to the spirits too, Elsa."_ Kristoff scratched at his beard. _"And Anna's a great Queen. We all think so, I just... I just wish she'd realise it herself."_

_"Did she really think she was just my spare?"_ Elsa tried to stop herself from crying some more, but it was no use. _"Oh I've been such a terrible sister to her."_

_"Hey, come on now..."_ Kristoff wrapped one arm around her and held her close, letting Elsa bury her head in his shoulder as he stroked the back of her hair. _"Anna could never have asked for a better sister than you, and she wouldn't trade you for anything either."_

_"You sure?"_ Elsa looked up at her brother-in-law as he responded warmly. _"Do you really think she'd have climbed the North Mountain, saved you from Hans or destroyed the dam if she did? She did those things for the kingdom, sure, but... but she did them for you more than anything, Elsa. And she'd do them again in a heartbeat."_

_"Hmm... she's amazing... she always was..."_ Elsa sighed with a smirk that faded for a moment. _"But... she thinks she's nothing without me."_

Kristoff nodded with a frown, before looking back to her with a smile as he said _"then I think it's time we showed her the truth..."_

_"Wait... you see that?"_ Elsa's eyes suddenly shot up as she noticed the bright, rainbow light through the trees ahead, running towards it wordlessly as Kristoff tried to keep up with her. The light led them to the edge of the river again, both of them freezing in their tracks as they stared wide-eyed at where it was coming from.

The aurora was dancing in the stars ahead, as it usually did, though in it's colours the shape of the spirits' snowflake began to form, hanging in the night like a large, multi-coloured star. The _Nøkk _had risen from the water and was staring directly ahead at the star as well, as Elsa pieced together that the shape was positioned in the North, just ahead of where Ahtohallan was, and that it was summoning her to it. She turned back to Kristoff with a determined yet slightly worried look on her face.

_"Where's Anna?"_

* * *

Anna was sitting alone on a rock at the riverbank, looking out to the endless waves as she wallowed in silent misery. Her reddened, tearstained cheeks had faded to a slightly bright pink by now, though she was still incredibly reluctant to return to the others after what had happened with Elsa and Olaf. The Queen felt her mind going back to Beatrix again, and how frightened the poor snow-girl must have been in Berit's captivity.

"Anna..." she jolted up slightly as she heard the voice coming behind her, calming down a bit as she saw the familiar snowman standing there. Olaf was still keeping his distance from her by a few feet, with the worried look on his face practically cutting the Queen to the core.

"Hi Olaf..." her voice sounded strained and hoarse as she spoke, prompting her to clear her throat before she made a beckoning gesture with her hand. "Come on... it's okay."

Olaf nervously scrambled over to the Queen and sat on the rock next to her, with Anna gently stroking the back of his head as she sighed. "Olaf, I... I'm sorry I got mad before. I... I just let my stress get to me, and Beatrix getting lost, it... it's more my fault than yours."

The snowman nodded silently before she pulled him into a hug. The pair held each other close as they let out a relaxed, cathartic little sigh, looking up in awe at the large snowflake that the aurora was forming in the sky.

They stayed like this for about ten seconds, only to jolt upwards in surprise as the _Nøkk_ suddenly pulled up on the edge of the river in front of them. Anna went wide-eyed as she saw glowing blue reins that connected the water horse to an ice replica of Kristoff's sled, as well as the person holding the reins at the head of the vehicle.

"Elsa?" she stood up from the rock as Loaf and Mattias came over to see them. "What are you doing?!"

_"Not me... us."_ Elsa held out her hand to her sister as Kristoff came up from the back of the sled. _"You too, Olaf." _he said with a confident smirk. _"We're gonna follow that snowflake in the sky..."_

_"Together..." _Elsa added as she kept her hand held out, prompting a smile to stretch across Anna's face as she accepted it. She let Elsa pull her up so they could sit besides each other in the driver's segment, while Kristoff picked up Olaf and put him in the back segment.

_"What should we do while you're gone?"_ Mattias asked as he and Loaf stood on the riverbank, Elsa answering with _"go to the ice castle on the North Mountain. You can stay there until we get back."_

The General nodded as Elsa whipped the reins in her hand, prompting the Nokk to fly across the waves while pulling the sled and passengers along with it. Loaf itched the back of his head as the two of them watched the others leave, pointing his stick hand straight behind him as he said "so... ice castle... this way?"

Mattias chuckled, using his foot to tilt the snowman's arm upwards as they both turned to see how high and steep the North Mountain actually went. _"More like **this **way."_

"Oh..." Loaf went wide-eyed, being slightly surprised when the General picked him up, carrying him gently in his arms as he walked into the woods towards the mountain. _"And I wouldn't worry about your sister, Loaf... as soon as they come back we'll figure out a plan to go rescue her."_

"Hmm... if the Storm Queen and her lightning dog have Beatrix, I'm more worried for _them._" Loaf cracked a smile as he and the ageing General both laughed. "She'll be totally fine. I just feel it."

* * *

_"Um... excuse me, uh... lady with sparkle fingers?"_

Berit groaned as the snow-girl called from the compact bird cage that she'd imprisoned her in, clutching her own hair to try drowning out the irritation as she answered back for what must have been the hundredth time. _"Ugh... yes? What is it now?"_

_"Well... when you said you wanted me to tell you everything I knew, did you actually mean... everything everything?" _Berit rolled her eyes at this, practically praying that Beatrix wouldn't go off on another tirade of irrelevant trivia, like water having memory or technology being both a saviour and destroyer.

_"No... I just want you to tell me where Anna and Elsa might be. Right now..."_ Berit spoke through her gritted teeth, getting right up to the bars of the cage as Beatrix cowered back slightly. _"You think you can do that?"_

Beatrix nodded, prompting Berit to sigh in cautious relief as she turned away again and sat on her brother's rusted throne. She began tapping the armrest with her fingers as the snow-girl began to talk again, with the tapping getting faster and more stressed out as Beatrix droned on and on.

_"Okay, well... I know that Anna wasn't really happy about Elsa taking you to that Atta-who's-it place. See, Anna's been really scared ever since she became Queen that everybody in our kingdom thinks she's not as good as Elsa, you know since Elsa was born with magical powers and she wasn't. But I personally think she's a really good Queen and everybody else I know thinks the same, so I really don't get why she's so worried about it. And Elsa's really upset that you guys couldn't work things out, and I guess she probably knows Anna's really mad at her too. I think it'd be best for everyone if they just sit down, talk about it, and have a warm hug. That'd work just fine with me, so I don't see why they..."_

_"Wait, just... wait-wait, quiet now, just... **shut up!**"_ Berit snapped as Beatrix stopped talking, pinching the bridge of her nose as she leaned forward in the throne. _"What are you... ugh... what are you going on about?"_

_"I'm just telling you where Anna and Elsa are." _Beatrix nodded innocently. _"Emotionally speaking."_

**_"EMOTIONALLY SPEAKING?!" _**Beatrix jolted back fearfully as Berit darted over to the cage, screaming in the snow-girl's face as her impatience finally gave way to a flood of rage.**_ "Where are they... LITERALLY SPEAKING?!"_**

_"Oh... right... sorry, I dunno." _Berit clenched her teeth as she turned away again, as Beatrix straightened her glasses and called from the cage. _"I'm real sorry, but I'm only like a couple days old... most of my sense of direction revolves around where my brother Loaf is."_

Berit froze on the spot as she heard this, making sure Beatrix didn't see her face as the makings of a strategy began to form in her head. She felt a grin forming on her cheeks as she quickly snapped her fingers, summoning Lynnedslag from the clouds outside as the lightning wolf appeared before her.

_"Anna thinks it's like a twin thing we have. Or at least that's what she called it. Oh, I forgot to mention that in my trivia talk earlier! Did you know that some twins can read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences? It's really weird and I've never actually seen it in real life, but I bet it's super cool, don't you? And that reminds me of..."_

**_"Right, that's it! I've had enough!"_** Berit suddenly unlocked the door to the cage and pulled it open, surprising Beatrix as she motioned her arm forwards. _"Go on... off you pop."_

_"Wait, what?"_

_"I'm releasing you. Please... please just leave. I can't take anymore of your voice, your trivia, and all your... y-y-your **ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!**"_ Berit was dramatically pinching her hands together like sock puppets to illustrate her point, before pointing to her pet. _"__Lynnedslag will take you anywhere you want. As long as it's far, far away from me so I don't have to listen to you. Now get lost."_

_"Oh, okay..."_ Beatrix nervously walked out of the cage, itching the back of her head as she looked to the lightning wolf standing at the window. _"Ooh. Say, you wouldn't have any snacks for the trip back, would you?"_

_**"GET OUT!"**_ Berit's eyes turned a fierce shade of purple as she bellowed this demand, sending Beatrix darting over to Lynnedslag as she climbed onto his back. The Storm Queen watched as her hell hound took off into the sky with the snow-girl in tow, smugly chuckling to herself as everything started to fall back into her favour.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to rise from the horizon as the _Nøkk_ came closer to it's destination, with the entire group going wide-eyed as the mist ahead began to clear. A thin beacon of white light was cascading down from the centre of the snowflake, which was now much larger than it had seemed from afar, with it's power creating a whirlpool in the middle of the ocean that caused the waves to pull the sled closer to it.

"Uh, hey Elsa... should that be happening?!" Olaf called out worryingly as they all saw the snowflake lowering down in a straight line, while the beacon began to expand wider and became more blinding. Elsa hesitated for a moment, before standing up in the driver's seat as she reached her hand forwards, taking another moment before she clenched her fist. **BOOM!**

Everyone tensed back with their eyes closed as a pulsating, deafening burst of energy was sent out of the beacon, though Elsa kept her fist pointed forwards as some kind of black hole suddenly emerged from the caldera's mouth in the middle of the light. This dark vortex expanded into a perfect triangle, and seemed to suck the sled towards it with a powerful gust of wind as the Snow Queen realised what it actually was.

_"It's a portal..."_ she gasped under her breath, causing everyone else to go wide-eyed as they spoke in-sync. **_"Where to?"_**

_"It looks like we're about to find out..." _Elsa added, before Anna realised what she meant. **"HANG ON TIGHT!"**

They all stayed as low as they possibly could to the sled as their hairs and clothes were tossed around everywhere by the winds. The four watched in both awe and terror as a flat beacon of many colours shot out of the portal and into the waves just ahead of them. The _Nøkk_ disappeared into the water as the sled was quickly pulled up the rainbow bridge, with everyone screaming with tightly shut eyes as the triangular vortex consumed them and they disappeared into the darkness.

The rainbow bridge vanished and the black triangle closed once it had swallowed the sled and it's passengers, causing the beacon to rescind back into the snowflake as it disappeared back into the aurora, letting the sun rise peacefully over the stilled ocean as if nothing were ever there.


	15. Small World - Anna's Decision

The group all opened their eyes one by one, trying their best to see in the almost pitch black silence. The sled was now being pulled at a steady yet fast pace through the darkness, with the only light source coming from the glow of the neon green stream beneath them. The light of the water barely illuminated the long tunnel ahead, which was covered on either side in tall rock formations that each briefly glowed a bright blue as they sensed Elsa passing by.

They could hear several voices echoing across the caverns like a heavenly chorus as the sled glided gracefully over the emerald water. Elsa and Anna both recognised the tune and lyrics of the choir's hymn, and they felt silent tears forming in their eyes as the sled continued on, gliding out of the tunnel of rock as the glowing stream led to a much wider, open river.

**_Verðug dróttning stór  
_****_Hjarta af gulli skína_**

**_Kronum þik med vánum, ást ok trú_**

**_Fagra, grýttur land, heimr Árnadalr  
_****_Fylgið dróttningu ljóssins_****_  
_**

As the emerald colour changed to a bright sky blue Anna slowly reached her hand down onto the water, though the small amount she had cupped into her hand slowly lost it's glow and turned colourless as she returned to her seat. They all looked around in awe as dozens of other shapes suddenly emerged from the water, taking the forms of glowing blue horses, wolves and reindeer that stampeded alongside the sled as the chorus continued their ethereal chanting.

The running shapes rescinded back into the water as the sled passed under the waterfall at the end of this cavern, causing the stream to turn from blue to a beaming shade of red. The group kept themselves low on the sled as they saw millions of small, pink fireballs flying over their heads, having to squint to realise that they were all flying salamanders like Bruni. Olaf reached out to touch one of the small lizards as it whizzed past, before they noticed the river was now changing from red to purple and that the salamanders were actually being blown into the air by the wind spirits.

The sled suddenly stopped at the very end of the stream, right in front of a tall flight of stairs that seemed to be made completely out of ice, leading up to a tall, pure white doorway. Elsa seemed particularly hypnotised by this structure, being the first to get out of the sled and walk towards the steps as the echoing voices sang another familiar tune.

**_Na na na heyana  
__Hahiyaha naha  
__Naheya heya na yanuwa  
__Anhahe yunuwana_**

The others all frantically followed Elsa up the steps, remaining a few steps behind as she strode towards the doorway with her feet turning each step bright blue. Her memory was beginning to flood with her old dreams about the Northern Lights. The staircase of ice, the white doorway and a hidden paradise. It was all coming back to her now, and she couldn't fight the temptation to go up there and see it for herself.

_I'm standing in the open_  
_I'm climbing through the clouds_  
_No one here will see me_  
_No one will hurt me now_

The spirits began to swirl around the Snow Queen as she ascended up the stairs, surrounding her in a fog that initially concealed her from the rest of the group. She hardly noticed this as she kept her eyes focused on the doorway, picking up speed as her excitement filled her heart.

_Goodbye, gravity_  
_Goodbye, enemies_

_I'm going up to a place where the world is small_  
_Where I can fly above it all_

The others all went wide-eyed in awe as the spirits rescinded from Elsa, revealing the Snow Queen's new appearance. The bruise under her eye had vanished as her platinum blonde hair hung more loose and open than any of them had ever seen her wearing it before. And her off-the-shoulder dress was mostly a blueish-white, covered in rainbow-coloured sequins shaped like the snowflake of the five spirits, with a long, flowing cape attached to the back of her bodice.

_From here I'm weightless_  
_No stars are famous_  
_And the world is small_

"Elsa, wait up!" Anna called after her sister to no reply as she increased her speed to follow her. Kristoff was about to do the same, only for Olaf to freeze in his tracks as he saw something to his right, and Kristoff and Anna both stopped to see it as well. It seemed to be a vast ocean of spirits floating upwards in the direction Elsa was going, almost resembling the multicoloured ghosts that Anna used to dream about.

The Queen was initially in awe of this, before she looked up to see her sister getting closer to the doorway. "Elsa!"

_Goodbye, gravity_  
_Goodbye, enemies_

_I'm going up to a place where the world is small_  
_Where I can fly above it all_

As Elsa reached the top of the steps she could see the symbols of the four spirits standing in twos on either side, with the doorway in the middle obviously being for the Fifth Spirit herself. This was it. She knew it was. And she felt a rush of emotions as the door came closer, reaching a hand forward to accept the destiny it was offering to her.

_From here I'm weightless_  
_No stars are famous_  
_And the world is small_

**"Elsa!"**

She paused with her hand inches away from opening the door as she heard her sister's voice behind her, turning around to see the others standing a few steps behind. They both had an inkling of what would have happened if she'd opened it, and none were entirely sure how they felt about that.

_"Anna, I..."_

"Elsa... please..." Anna kept her hand reached out, practically begging her sister to take it. "We need you. _I_ need you."

Elsa could feel herself being torn apart by this conflict. She looked back at forth between Anna and the doorway, with either side mentally pulling her towards them. Freedom or family? It was becoming harder for her to make this choice by the moment, before she sighed as she turned away completely from the doorway, running back down the stairs to wrap her younger sister in a hug.

_"I'm sorry, Anna..."_ her tone was regretful and reluctant at the same time, still conveying how conflicted she felt about what to do. _"I'm so sorry I nearly did that... we... we shouldn't have come here..."_

"Yeah..." Anna looked up at the doorway herself for a moment, sighing as she took her sister's hands and they pulled out of the hug. "We'll be okay, Elsa... come on. Let's get outta here..."

* * *

**"A trip?! Wow! I can't... wait... where are we going?"**

"Not all of us, dear. Your mother and I just have some important business to attend to." Agnarr could see the disappointed look forming on his daughter's face, raising an eyebrow with a playful smirk as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Anna, you won't be missing out on much. I'm dreading it myself, you know, cause it'll be so boring that I... I'll barely be able to keep myself a... aw... awake..."

Anna stifled a laugh as her father drooped his eyes closed and pretended to snore, jolting himself up again as he and his wife both chuckled. Iduna took Anna's hand as she said _"yes, so... we thought it'd be best if you and Elsa just stayed here."_

"Hmm... okay... um... so how long will you be gone for?" Anna's voice cracked a bit as she said this, before her mother smiled back. _"Oh... just two weeks. __It'll be fine, darling. We'll be back before you know it."_

Exchanging a knowing glance with the King, the Queen kissed her daughter on the cheek as she left the room. Anna continued to nervously wring her hands together as her father started gathering what seemed to be maps and other things from the drawers.

"So... two whole weeks, huh? Just me and Elsa..." she rubbed her arm as Agnarr turned to look at her. "I mean... _I'm_ okay with it, I just... I don't know how she'll feel about that..."

"She'll probably enjoy it." he said in a warm tone, though there seemed to be a hint of regret in his voice. "Anna... recently, I've... your mother and I both decided that Elsa shutting you out might not have been... the best course of action to take, and... I think maybe the two of you should start spending time together again."

"Wow..." Anna's wide eyes indicated that she wasn't expecting her father to say that, though there was still a worrying tone in her voice as she looked to the floor. "Papa, I... Elsa, she... what if she shut me for a reason? What if I did something that made her do it, what if... what if she doesn't like me anymore, or...?"

"Oh Anna..." the King had a gentle tone in his voice as he brushed the hair out of her face, while Anna wiped her eye to keep herself from crying. "I know these past few years have been difficult for you both."

"Even... even Elsa?"

"_Especially _Elsa. But you both need to know that this isn't your fault." He took a moment to think silently, before taking hold of both her shoulders as he proudly said "when your mother and I come back, we'll... we'll fix everything. Bring the pair of you together again. For good, this time. It'll be just like it was, maybe even better."

Anna gasped excitedly as her eyes widened and her face stretched into a smile. "Really...?"

"I promise." Agnarr kissed his younger daughter on the forehead as he pulled her into a hug. "Your sister loves you, Anna. And nothing on Earth could ever change that."

* * *

Everyone sighed as the _Nøkk _pulled the sled alongside the just under the ice palace, all them remaining silent for a few moments before Olaf and Kristoff climbed out of the back segment. Elsa pinched the bridge of her nose before she looked to her sister next to her, gently taking her hand as they exchanged a smile.

_"You okay?"_

"Uh-huh..." Anna nodded silently and almost reluctantly, with what she had seen in the aurora an hour before still clearly being on her mind as she looked at Elsa's new outfit. She cleared her throat as she itched the back of her head, looking up at the palace in front of them. "Well, um... we should probably see how the others are doing in there..."

_"Hmm... yeah."_

**"Oh man! Ow, hey! No! No more hugging! AAAAGH!"**

The four heard Loaf's voice as Kristoff opened the doors to the ice palace, seeing Mattias sitting in the centre of the room under the hulking Marshmallow while the hundreds of miniature snowmen were making some kind of pile. Olaf ran into the castle as Loaf fought his way out of the Snowgie mountain, gasping for breath as he spotted his oldest sibling.

**"You... you didn't say there were more of us!"** he clumsily tried to straighten his scarf before he realised that a couple more Snowgies were still hanging on the end of it, before looking up at Elsa as she and Anna came in. **"There's no more than these guys, right?!"**

"We can't control when Elsa gets colds..." Olaf laughed as the Snow Queen shrugged with a grin, walking away from the rest of the group as she went up the stairs. Anna noticed this, taking a moment before she followed her sister as the others all sat with Mattias and Marshmallow.

* * *

**"Elsa? Hey, Elsa!"**

Anna reached the top floor where she could see her sister standing outside on the balcony, walking over to join her as they looked at the kingdom below. There were three ships from Weselton docked just outside, which Anna had begrudgingly accepted as an olive branch between their kingdoms. Neither sister had been happy about this arrangement, but other than that, there seemed to be nothing else to concern about. Berit clearly hadn't attacked and the kingdom was still in one piece, and that was all they needed to worry about.

Anna could tell that Elsa was still feeling conflicted, with her head being tilted slightly in the direction that the aurora's snowflake had been. It almost made Anna feel guilty about stopping her back then, though she remained calm and straight-faced as she stood in the doorway. "Elsa?"

_"Uh-huh? Yes...?"_ Elsa turned back to face her sister, brushing her now completely loose hair out of her face as she did. _"What's wrong, Anna?"_

"Nothing, I just... I know you liked it up there." Anna casually pointed her thumb in the direction Elsa had been looking. "Up in the Northern Lights..."

_"Hmm... yeah. It was beautiful. Like a dream. Like our dreams..."_ Elsa looked in that direction again, seeing that the aurora had now completely vanished in the midday sky. _"I guess dreams aren't meant to last though, right?"_

Anna found herself pinching the bridge of her nose as she thought about what to say next, letting Elsa look at her almost questioningly before she spoke. "I guess not, but... um... well... you know, Elsa... I was thinking about back then, and uh... well... _everyone deserves the chance to fly, sis_... you know what I mean...?"

_"Anna... what are you trying to say?"_ Elsa asked as she looked to her with some anticipation, before both went wide-eyed as she heard a familiar voice coming from downstairs. "_**HEY GUYS! I'M BACK!"**_

* * *

The sisters rushed down the stairs to where the others were embracing and laughing with the familiar little snow-girl, with Anna's face lighting up with pure jubilation and relief as she clumsily rushed over with arms outstretched. **_"BEATRIX!"_**

**_"ANNA!"_** Beatrix jumped out of Kristoff's arms and right into the arms of the Queen, nearly knocking them both to the floor as they hugged tightly. Elsa smiled at this, before her ears pricked up at the sound of a familiar rumbling coming from outside the balcony, slowly sneaking back up the stairs to investigate.

**"Oh sweetheart, I... I'm so sorry we left you behind! I was being so stupid, but... oh, but I'm just so glad you're okay!"** Anna was nearly squeezing the life out of Beatrix as she held her close, though Beatrix merely welcomed the affection as she continued to return the embrace.

_"I'm fine, Anna, really..."_ she smiled warmly as she straightened her glasses. _"I don't wanna brag or anything, but it was easy enough to escape. See, I was trying to tell the crazy lady with sparkle fingers all of Olaf's trivia, but she just got really annoyed and let me go..."_

"Yeah, ha ha... Yeah, I bet she d... _wait, what?!_" Anna's eyes went wide as her face straightened. "She let you go? Intentionally?"

_"Uh-huh. Sure did."_ Beatrix nodded naively, as Anna and Kristoff both began to piece together what this could have meant. Kristoff got down to Beatrix's level, looking her in the eyes as he said _"Beatrix... how did you get back here?"_

_"Oh yeah. Lynnedslag dropped me off. You know, the crazy lady's lightning dog th..."_ Beatrix was cut off when they all heard the thundering **_ZZZAAP!_** of a lightning bolt and a familiar cry coming from the top floor, with Anna looking to the foot of the staircase where her sister no longer was.

"Oh no... no-no-no-no-no! **ELSA!**"

* * *

The roof of the palace had been completely blasted apart by Berit's attack, with the second floor being littered with millions of shards and fractals as the Storm Queen strode over to the wall she'd blasted Elsa into, with Elsa herself lying front-down on the floor groaning as she tried to pull herself back up.

_"Wow... you look different, Elsa... new dress?"_ Berit snarked as she bent down to the Snow Queen's level, pinching her left sleeve to admire the fabric. _"It's a good different... **UGH!**"_

She stumbled back in a brief moment of shock as Elsa suddenly sent her elbow into her face, preparing a blast of ice before Berit suddenly shocked her with another, even more powerful bolt. Elsa shut her eyes and cried out in agony as she was electrocuted, which got Anna's attention as she reached the top of the stairs and came into the room.

**"Hey... leave my sister alone!"** Anna tried to run to attack the Storm Queen, getting all of five steps forward before she was suddenly pinned against the wall by the snarling face of Lynnedslag. Berit chuckled as she got to her feet, picking up Elsa's nearly unconscious body as her purple clouds lowered down to their level.

She looked back to Anna with a grin as she threw Elsa's body onto the cloud, stepping onto it herself as she snapped her fingers to summon Lynnedslag away from the Queen. Anna wheezed out as she fell to the floor, watching as the hound returned to the cloud and Berit clenched her fist to summon more bolts down from the sky.

_**"You tried your best, Ann-a!"**_ she shouted in a mocking tone as the cloud rose into the sky. **_"But you were never going to keep her from me! And now the game draws to a close... with me fulfilling my destiny, and rebuilding the world! Starting with Arendelle!"_**

"No... no, **Elsa!**" Anna ran to the very edge of the balcony as the others all watched from below, trying to reach her sister before it just missed her grasp. She hopelessly stared down as Berit's cloud travelled to Arendelle with Elsa on it, straining out her lungs as she belted out as loud as she could.

**"ELSA!"**

* * *

Anna took a moment for everything she'd just been through to set in, eventually collapsing onto her knees as her face started gushing out tears. The awful feeling that had been pestering her for the past few days was now weighing her down completely, all while her mind tore into itself with intense self-deprecation.

Kristoff and the others had all reached the midpoint of the stairs and had seen Elsa being taken away, with Olaf holding his two newest siblings close as Mattias crossed his arms and leaned back against the railings.

_"She's got Elsa... and now she's going to destroy Arendelle..."_ he said in a sullen tone. _"What do we do now?"_

Kristoff looked up to where his wife was on the balcony, nodding to the others as they all headed back downstairs and he continued heading up.

Anna hadn't noticed him coming up, keeping her eyes fixated on the kingdom as she remained deep in though. The fact that this wouldn't have happened if Elsa had stayed in the aurora was the main thought on her mind, as well as all the other problems that she could find some way to blame on herself. Hope was gone, as far as she knew, and the voice in her mind was drowned out by her grief.

I see dark again, it's coming back  
And it's cold, and it's empty, and it's numb

The end I knew was coming, it's on it's way  
Hello darkness, I'm ready to succumb

She sighed as she thought back to all she'd done and said in the past few days, especially to Elsa and Olaf, becoming increasingly more bitter and resentful of herself as she faced the ground and closed her eyes, letting more tears come down her cheeks as she stayed silent for a moment.

Life's too short  
To be such an oblivious fool  
So reckless, that I couldn't see

Life's too short to be so desperate to be loved  
That I only ever thought of me

I wish I saw things clearly  
I guess I'm just not the sort

Now all I know  
Is life's... too... short

Kristoff slowly walked over to the cliff edge where his wife was crouched and sobbing, sighing as he put his hands on his hips. _"Well... guess thing's really seem terrible now, huh?"_

She didn't turn to face him fully as he said this, though she seemed to let out a sigh as he continued. _"I mean... the ice palace just got decapitated, Berit's probably gonna kill Elsa, and then she's most likely gonna use her magic to destroy the world and wipe out the human race. So yeah... pretty bleak note to end everything on..."_

This just made Anna bury her face in her hands as she cried even more, which prompted a small grin to form on Kristoff's face as he kept pushing. _"It'd be really great if someone tried to do something about it. Know what I mean? Someone powerful. Someone important... maybe the Queen, I dunno..."_

"I... I can't..." Anna's throat was strained through her tears and her voice was muffled through her hands, though Kristoff didn't let up. _"Ugh... forgive me, sweetheart, but I think I had some of Sven's old fluff stuck in my ear, so you're gonna have to say that again. But it almost sounded like you said that you... can't?"_

"I can't do this." She lifted her head slightly as she spoke a little louder, though tears still fell down her face. "I can't, Kristoff... I can't stop Berit, I can't protect Arendelle, I can't even protect you guys, I... I can't be Elsa."

_"Well then... don't."_ he got closer to Anna and got down on one knee so he was on her level, letting her turn slowly to look at him. _"Be Anna."_

She seemed to be confused by this at first, rolling her eyes as she wiped her face with the palm of her hand. "I'm not enough... Arendelle needs more than just... just a spare this time..."

_"Hmm... you're right. They need more than a spare. They need the girl who survived a Frozen Heart. The girl who saved the Snow Queen from herself. The girl who looked despair right in the eye... and did the next right thing."_

Anna remained silent as she took in what her husband was saying, letting Kristoff gently place a kiss on the side of her forehead before he stood up and went back to the others. The Queen remained silent for another moment or so, before a hint of gold caught her eye as she looked to the sky.

The sun was shining in the distance, cutting through the blueish-grey with a beaming orange that cast itself against the North Mountain behind her. Anna closed her eyes, letting a final tear go down her face as she put her hand to her heart and rose to her feet with a heavy exhale. She couldn't think too far ahead about what was going to happen at the end of the day, as only one thought remained at the front of her mind now.

Then I'll make the choice  
To hear that voice  
And do

The next... right... thing...

* * *

The others all sat inside the remains of the palace still, gathered silently in a melancholy circle as they all pondered about what was going to happen next. Kristoff was holding Beatrix on his knee while Loaf and Olaf both sat at his feet, comfortingly stroking the back of the snow-girl's head as she looked up to him. _"Hey, Kristoff...?"_

_"Yes, sweetheart?"_

_"I don't..."_ Beatrix tried not to cry or hyperventilate, but was finding it increasingly difficult as she took off her misty glasses. _"I don't know what it's like to die, but... I don't wanna know what it feels like, not yet, and I know if Elsa... if Elsa was... I'm... I'm scared, Kristoff."_

Kristoff sighed as he wrapped his arms around Beatrix, letting the snow-girl bury her sobbing little head in his chest as Olaf, Loaf and the Snowgies all joined in the group hug. Mattias hesitated for a moment, before he scooched himself over to the rest of the group while Marshmallow wrapped his massive arms around them all. They stayed like this for about half a minute, having initially planned to stay like this until the inevitable moment came, but they all shot their heads up in surprise as the door suddenly opened and the Queen strode in.

**"Alright, everybody listen up!"** Anna called as they all turned to face her, clenching her fists with a determined smile as Bruni suddenly crawled up onto her shoulder. **"Arendelle is counting on us, and it's only chance is if we all stand together and fight for it! We're gonna go down there, get Elsa back, and save our home!"**


	16. Battle Of The Three Queens - Round Three

The Duke stepped to the front of his leading ship, facing the kingdom directly as the Arendellians and Northuldra all stepped forward to listen. **"People of Arendelle! Six years ago your Snow Queen humiliated our fair country, and damaged our once lucrative trading values through her treachery! Today, I vanquish all magic from the kingdom of Arendelle, and reclaim the dignity... of Weselton!"**

He went wide-eyed as he heard the rumbling from behind their ships, with most of the crew and the citizens all looking up in fear at the purple clouds forming overheard. The Duke gasped as Berit emerged from the front of the cloud, twirling a lightning bolt in her hand as she shouted back. **_"Absolutely amazing! Just about every word in that sentence was wrong!"_**

Her lightning bolts began shooting in all directions out of the cloud she was standing on, blackening the sky as she lowered herself onto the rear mast of the third ship, with the crowd on land gasping in worry as they saw her prisoner being lowered down bound in lightning chains.

**"Elsa!"** Honeymaren yelled out as she and Yelena got to the front of the crowd, watching as the chains bound the now awake Snow Queen to the mast while Berit continued her speech. Lynnedslag stood on the other end of the mast, intimidating the Duke's men with his fierce snarl as his master bellowed out her words.

**_"All my life I have sat back and watch, while humanity brings the planet closer to oblivion by the moment... if I've learned anything these past three decades, it's that mankind is a virus that poisons the Earth, and I've come here now with the cure! You need not worry about Weasel-Town's trading dilemma, Your Grace, for today marks the end of your so-called civilisation, as I give birth to a new world! A better world! A world ruled by magic!"_**

* * *

Anna, Kristoff, Mattias and the snowmen were all gathered at the very edge of the cliff. It was an incredibly steep fall if one were to jump over, and Arendelle was at least a good few miles away from them. Anna had cracked open the crates that the camping tents had been kept in, tearing the fabrics apart into wide, open sheets as she passed them around.

Marshmallow and the Snowgies all stood behind the group, with Kristoff turning to them as he said _"we'll see you guys down there!"_

The larger snowman nodded as he led the army of miniature snowmen away, before everyone looked to Loaf as he spoke up. "I have just one question, Anna... how exactly are these things supposed to help us _not die_?"

Loaf looked at the corner of the large tent fabric he was holding, while Beatrix and Olaf held the other two ends. Anna finished strapping her sword to her belt as she passed Kristoff and Mattias a tent each, looking back to Loaf as she answered.

"All you gotta do is hold it open when you jump. Gale'll do the rest." the Queen held two corners of her sheet in either hand, keeping it behind and over her head as she stood on the edge of the cliff. Bruni kept himself hidden under a fold in her jacket, with Anna smiling down at him before she looked back to the others. "We'll fly down just fine... hopefully."

_"Oh okay, that makes sense."_ Beatrix grinned naively, taking a moment before she and Loaf both went wide-eyed. _"Wait, who's Gale?"_

* * *

The Duke had ordered his archers to aim their crossbows and harpoons at the two Queens on the mast, though Berit had hardly noticed this nor was she concerned by it. She smugly turned back to Elsa, leaning closer to her face and talking at a quieter volume. _"Last chance, Elsa... we can still do this together if you want... come on..."_

Unlimited  
Together we're... unlimited

Together we'll be the greatest team  
There's ever been, Elsa

Dreams the way we plan them  
If we work in tandem

There's no fight we cannot win

Berit had hoped for Elsa to join her in the singing, but gave up when it seemed obvious that she wouldn't. She rolled her eyes as she reached into her belt to pull out a very real, very sharp dagger, holding it to Elsa's face with a smirk. _"I have other ways of taking the power I need from you, Elsa, with or without your consent. So what do you say, dear? Take it... or leave it?"_

Elsa didn't answer verbally, with her venomous glare being enough of a response as Berit sighed in mild frustration. A smile soon formed on her face again as she looked down to her audience and twirled her dagger in her hand. **_"Now... the Snow Queen over here has refused to aid me in my mission, but this is a minor inconvenience to me, so I don't see why she would finds her beliefs to be worth the sacrifice!"_**

The crowd were shocked by the mention of that last word and anxiously watched as Berit brought the knife to Elsa's neck, before they all looked to the North Mountain as they heard another voice echoing on the wind. **"HANG ON ELSA!"**

Berit and Elsa both turned to squint at the origin of the voice, with everyone's eyes going wide as they saw what it was. Anna and the others were hanging off of their makeshift parachutes as the wind spirit filled them with air, giving them a steady yet speedy descent towards the ships as they manoeuvred themselves around the lightning coming from Berit's clouds.

Loaf, Beatrix and Olaf were lighter and more aerodynamic than the humans, with Gale's force blowing them clumsily around in the air as they spun in a screaming circle, though they remained on the same course as the others as they came closer to the three ships. Berit scowled as she raised her hand, trying to send more lightning their way before Anna thrust her legs forward.

_**"GAH!"**_ she grunted as Anna knocked her off of the mast, with the blow causing a few of Elsa's chains to break while her sister flew past. Anna let go of her parachute as it blew away in the wind, latching herself onto the loose sail of the Duke's front ship and sliding down it onto the deck.

**"It's Queen Anna!"** Ryder shouted this from the crowd, prompting the others to let out a resounding cheer as she drew her sword and her teammates landed on the deck behind her. Mattias and Kristoff both drew their own swords behind their Queen as the snowmen picked up anything they could find on the floor, infuriating the Duke as he shouted to his men. **"Well don't just stand there! Kill the lot of them!"**

Berit was still hanging onto the railing of the mast that Anna had knocked her off of, looking over to the first ship where the group was fighting off the Duke's soldiers. She smirked smugly as she saw this, only to look up at the escaped and very angry Snow Queen. _"Oh bugger..."_

**_"HEE-YAH!"_** Elsa sent a blast of ice down that knocked Berit off of the railing, almost plummeting into the water before Lynnedslag flew underneath to catch his master. She ran across the rope connecting the masts as she continued sending blasts that the lightning wolf mostly avoided, clenching her fists as she glared after Berit.

The battle had spread to the second ship as Anna tried to get to her sister, finding herself being increasingly surrounded by the Duke's men. "Kristoff! I need to get to Elsa! **UGH!**" she grunted as she deflected a soldier's sword, before grabbing another by the collar and punching him so that he fell overboard with two others.

_"Got it!"_ Kristoff called back as he pushed aside one of the other men trying to attack his wife, with he and Mattias keeping the other soldiers at bay as Anna climbed up the middle mast. Elsa could see this from the crow's nest of the third ship, stretching her hand forwards to create a bridge of ice between herself and her sister as Anna started running across it.

**_ZZZAAP! _**One of Berit's lightning bolts suddenly shot in from the left, taking both sisters off guard as it cut the ice right down the middle. Anna hesitated for a moment before she jumped over the crack, running as fast as she could to Elsa while this side began to crumble apart under her weight. Elsa went wide-eyed as she noticed the ice just before her feet completely give way, latching onto the shoulders of Anna's jacket to stop her from falling with it before hoisting her up into the crow's nest with her.

Both were panting heavily as Elsa pulled her sister into a hug that Anna gladly and gratefully returned. _"It's okay... I got you... Anna, I... I love you so much..."_

"I know, Elsa. I know." Anna nodded with a smile as she pulled out of the hug, only to throw her sister and herself out of the way as Berit blasted the mast below them with her lightning again. _**"Love, eh?! HA!"**_ She shouted over to them as the mast began to fall apart and the sisters struggled to stay standing. _**"Well let's see if love can save you from THIS!"**_

She struck the mast again, causing the crow's nest to falter as Anna tumbled out of it. Elsa just managed to grab her sister's arm, with the one-sided weight causing the entire crow's nest to break away from the mast and plummet into the water with both sisters still inside of it. _**"Yah!"**_ Berit kicked Lynnedslag's side, prompting the hell hound to fly off towards the North as the purple clouds continued to smite Arendelle and the ships with her lightning.

_**WHOOSH!** _After about five seconds the _Nøkk_ shot out of the waves with the two Queens on it's back. Elsa was holding it's reins as she sat at the front, turning back to Anna with a slightly worried grin. _"You okay, sis?"_

"Yeah... I'm fine.." Anna's voice was somewhat breathless from being underwater, but she was still determined as she looked up to see Berit flying away on Lynnedslag. **"Let's go get her!"**

**_"You got it!"_** Elsa tugged on the _Nøkk's_ reins as it took off across the water in pursuit of the Storm Queen.

* * *

The fighting had now spread to all three ships with Honeymaren leading the Northuldra and several reindeer into the battle, while Marshmallow emerged from the fjord and began throwing his fists onto the decks as the Duke's men attempted to restrain his arms. The Weselton troops had even broken into fighting amongst themselves, with those loyal to the Council's demands attempting to overpower and mutiny against those loyal to the Duke's plot.

Ryder and his reindeer gave Olaf a lift over to the second ship, with the snowmen running over to help Mattias undo the ropes tying Marshmallow's hand to the deck. Beatrix watched this from a higher platform on the ship, going wide-eyed as she saw one of the Duke's main bodyguards standing behind them with his crossbow fully loaded.

**_"Guys! Look out!"_** she gasped fearfully in a vain attempt to warn them, before noticing the rope next to her was attached to the middle sail right above where the man was. Swallowing her terror as she unhooked her end of the rope, Beatrix swung down with her legs thrust out as she let out a surprisingly fierce battle cry. _**"AAAAGGGGGHHHH!"**_

She kicked the bodyguard right in the backside, sending him flying over Mattias and Olaf's heads as she landed face-first on the floor of the deck. Her glasses flew off her face and landed a few feet away as she hit the floor, prompting Beatrix to frantically put her hands across the blurry floor all around her as she started to panic. **_"Oh man! I can't see!"_**

The bodyguard got back on his feet as he reloaded his crossbow, pointing it right at the visually impaired snow-girl's head as Loaf and Olaf both went wide-eyed. _"I'm afraid you freaks will need a bigger trick than that."_

"Oh, okay..." Olaf pointed to his right with a grin as everyone except Beatrix looked up. "Is _that_ big enough?"

The Weselton troops on both sides stared in either awe or horror as three towering Earth Giants emerged from behind the palace, with even Marshmallow being shocked by the sheer enormity they displayed. Kristoff sat at the back of Ryder's reindeer as they went across the second ship, with Ryder grabbing Olaf while Kristoff grabbed Beatrix and Mattias got her glasses. The reindeer and Mattias leapt across to the third ship just as the Earth Giants threw their boulders at the second, destroying the masts and deck and sending several of the Duke's men hurtling overboard into the water.

Kristoff and Ryder set the snowmen down as they dismounted the reindeer, with Mattias bending down to put Beatrix's glasses back on as she looked up in awe at the Earth Giants. **_"WHOA! THOSE GUYS ARE HUGE!"_**

_"So... how's our brave little snow-girl doing, huh?"_ Kristoff snarked with a brow raised, smiling warmly as Beatrix childishly giggled and wrapped her arms around his legs, being only just tall enough to reach that height.

The Duke stared with a bubbling fury from the front end of the first ship, watching the second as it slowly split in half and both ends sank into the waves to the cheering of the crowd on land. Half his crew had switched sides and the other half was being royally pulverised by the combined efforts of the Arendellians, the Northuldra, the spirits and three irritating snowmen. He knew his plan was failing miserably so he had to find some way to salvage it.

"Hmm... ah yes..." he muttered in an amused yet menacing tone as he looked to the end of the ship. "The gunpowder. In the cargo hatch. I'll give those traitors a firework show they'll never forget! Ah ha ha... _wait... why am I saying this out loud?_"

**_Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkk... _**He suddenly felt his balance becoming unstable as the ship began to move, looking to the top end to see Loaf starting to operate the wheel. The Duke felt a smug yet sinister grin crossing his face, drawing his sword as he slowly sauntered over to where the snowman was.

* * *

Since Berit's outburst the day before, Ahtohallan had now split off into several massive icebergs, while the storm she was currently summoning was creating a powerful maelstrom to swirl in the centre of them all and pull them closer to a large, almost bottomless abyss underwater. Lynnedslag landed on the largest iceberg as Berit dismounted him, before the _Nøkk_ pulled alongside the iceberg as the two Arendellian Queens dismounted as well.

The combined presence of Elsa and Berit's powers was causing the storm to worsen, as the maelstrom grew stronger and the waves wrecked more violently and viscerally around the ice. Anna drew her sword while Elsa made one out of ice for herself, side-by-side as they faced a bemused Berit.

_"Alright then..."_ Berit rolled her eyes before she opened her fists to summon two of her blade-like lightning bolts, getting into a battle-ready stance as the sisters did the same. _"Stand together, fall together!"_

**_"AAAAGGGGHH!"_** Both Anna and Elsa charged forwards with their swords raised, bringing them down in-sync as Berit deflected both blows with her bolts before kicking Elsa aside and pushing Anna back.

Anna ducked under one of the bolts as Berit swung it at her throat, latching onto the taller woman's back as she wrapped her arms around Berit's neck. Berit stumbled back a bit from the added weight, and this distraction allowed Elsa to swing her own sword down, just catching the side of Berit's stomach with a single, swift **_SLASH!_**

**_"Ugh!"_** the Storm Queen grunted in pain, though this enraged her enough to grab Anna by the arm and tear her off of her back, throwing the Queen halfway across the berg as Anna landed hard on the ice. Keeping one hand pressed to the cut on her side, Berit continued to parry and deflect Elsa's attacks but was eventually being forced down onto one knee as Elsa started viscerally swinging her sword onto her again and again, with the increasing amount of sheer power and rage shattering each bolt that Berit summoned to shield herself.

Anna groaned as she tried to get back on her feet, clutching her side as she looked to see Elsa and Berit fighting still. The small gurgle at her side prompted her to see Bruni glaring right back up at her with a wide smile. She returned the smirk as she took a hold of her sword, holding out her other hand to the salamander. "Good idea, little buddy..."

Elsa was surprised when Berit suddenly caught the blade of her ice sword with both hands, twisting it and Elsa's arms with it to disarm her. Elsa grunted as she let go of her weapon, trying to summon another blast of ice before Lynnedslag gripped her cape in his sparkling teeth. The lightning wolf pulled her back with great force, forcing her down onto the ground as Berit held up the ice sword to dispatch her. Elsa tried her hardest to fight back, but the hell hound pressed it's clawed paws onto her arms to keep her down on her back.

_**"Ironic, isn't it?!"**_ Berit's eye was twitching as she let out an almost animalistic cackle, raising the sword over her head. **_"Live by the ice sword... die by the ice sword! Ah ha ha ha ha haa!"_**

Elsa closed her eyes as she waited for Berit to bring down the weapon for the killing blow, only to open them again as Berit was hit in the back by what seemed to be a bright orange fireball of some kind. She rolled out of the way as the surprise attack caused Berit's grip to loosen on the sword, though the lightning wolf that had been restraining her wasn't quite so lucky.

**_SHING! SMASH!_**

These sounds snapped Berit back to reality, causing her to stare down with wide eyes at the shattered sword on the ice, along with the severed yet bloodless head of her hell hound as it and his crackling body fell limp at Elsa's feet. It would have taken the Storm Queen only a moment to get over the shock of this death, though she was far more paralysed with shock and awe as she and Elsa both looked where the surprise attack had come from.

The silhouette was enveloped in a thick cover of bright, golden fire, with the woman almost resembling a phoenix as she strode out from the flames. The sight of this figure was surprising enough as it was, though both Elsa and Berit were shocked to silence when they saw who it actually was under the fiery guise.

**_"Anna?!"_**

The blade of Anna's sword was coated in the same blazing orange flames as the rest of her, while the Queen's eyes glowed a neon orange and her brightened hair flickered as if it were among the flames. Berit and Elsa were both wide-eyed and speechless at the sight of her, with Elsa only just managing to let out a small exhale under her breath. _"Oh wow..."_

Elsa was still trying to regain her breath as she stayed on the ground, while Anna kept her burning eyes fixated on Berit. The Storm Queen glanced with an emotionless face at the remains of her pet as they sparkled and fizzed into nothingness, a grin forming on her face as another blade-like lightning bolt emerged from her hand.

_"Well Anna... at least now killing you's going to be a lot more **FUN!**"_

Anna pulled up her flaming sword as Berit charged towards her, a smirk forming on her own lips as she readied her counter-attack. "Huh... so you _can_ remember my name... **RRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!**"

* * *

Loaf continued to struggle at the wheel with the Duke, though the latter's smaller stature meant that it was far easier to pull the wheel his way than it had been with Kristoff. The Duke eventually grew tired of this and drew his sword again, intending to get Loaf out of his way once and for all.

**"Whoa! Ugh! Eek! AAGH!"** Loaf shrieked as he narrowly avoided each of the swipes, still trying to turn the wheel of the ship whenever he could reach it. The Duke swung for his head before Loaf ducked, then swung for his body before Loaf separated his midsection from his bottom part to let the blade go straight through the gap, all the while getting more and more frustrated.

**"GGGGAAAHHH!"** the Duke suddenly kicked the snowman down the stairs to the lower deck. He regained his smug composure as he spun the wheel to the left and jammed his sword into the stand, keeping the first ship on course to collide with the third as he strode down the steps to where Loaf was lying on the floor.

"So what do you think you were doing with my ship?" he snarked as he stood over Loaf, with the snowman remaining surprisingly defiant as he answered back. "What's it look like I'm doing? Trying to save my family!"

"Family?" the Duke scoffed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me tell you something, my boy, your family are... ooh..."

Loaf was surprised by the Duke's reaction, before looking up to see the Snowgie that was sitting on his head. He looked back at the Duke with bulging wide eyes, noticing the entire army of Snowgies that were standing behind the short, elderly man.

**"What are you staring at, you little monster!"** the Duke snarled in an impatient tone, prompting Loaf to point at his extended family as the Duke turned to face them himself. "Uh oh... **AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!**"

Loaf got back on his feet as the Duke ran off with the legion of miniature snowmen chasing and jumping onto him. He looked at the one on his head as it slipped into his hand, letting a warm smile cross his face as he hugged his smaller sibling tightly. "Aw... I love you guys so much..."

_**"Hmm..."**_ a booming voice from besides the ship alerted Loaf to Marshmallow's presence, prompting him to quickly run into his larger brother's arm as the giant carried him over towards the third ship. Loaf was initially overjoyed to see everyone safe on this ship, before going wide-eyed as he remembered what the Duke had done.

_**"Hi Loaf!"**_ Beatrix and Olaf both called up with a wave from where Kristoff was holding them, only for Loaf to frantically wave his arms as he shouted down from Marhsmallow's hand. **"Everyone get off the ship! NOW!"**

They all seemed confused by this at first, only for Kristoff to go wide-eyed as he saw the Duke's ship heading right towards them and instantly realised what Loaf meant. **_"He's right... everybody off!"_**

The Arendellians, Northuldra annd Weseltonians all ran to the furthest side of the third ship, some sliding down the backs of the Earth Giants while others jumped overboard and swam across the fjord to the land as the Duke's ship came closer to the second ship. The Duke himself had managed to escape the Snowgies by climbing up to the crow's nest of the first ship, having not noticed that the miniature snowmen had already rejoined the others as his vessel headed closer to it's destination.

He grimaced at the sight of Kristoff and the all others standing on land with the rest of the crowd, placing his now cracked monacle back onto his brow as he gave his speech. "Ah ha ha ha ha... **This is not over, you understand! Your Snow Queen will never be safe in this world, and you'll never be rid of me! For I... I am the one fearless enough to defy her lies and sorcery, and I will restore the good reputation that my homeland was robbed off by the daughters of Agnarr! I am the Great Duke of... whoa!... **oh dear."

**CRASH!**

He was cut off as the ships finally collided into a dazzling display of wood and splinters that flew in all directions, with the force of the crash sending him plummeting down from the mast. Everyone stared wide-eyed as the Duke shrieked in an almost ear-piercingly high tone, falling into the very mouth of the shipwreck where the gunpowder barrels finally succumbed to the friction of the crash. **"****AAAAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHH!"**

_**KABOOM!**_

* * *

A fierce duel of fire and lightning shook the iceberg the Queens stood on, with the storm becoming more volatile as the maelstrom grew stronger. Anna's rage burned inside and out with each attack, surprising Berit every time she thought she'd reached the pinnacle of her fury and force. Elsa wasted no time joining her sister on the assault, taking turns blasting and attacking Berit with the fullest extent of their abilities.

Berit eventually collapsed to her knees, panting for breath as Anna and Elsa both relented. Though she looked up with a worried grimace as Elsa grinned smugly. _"Hey Anna?"_

"Yeah..."

_"Remember our secret handshake?" _Elsa had a playful eyebrow raised, as Anna smirked back with a nod. Berit's eyes widened in anxiety at first, with her face eventually switching to one of extreme confusion when she saw what the sisters did.

**_1, 2, 3 together, clap together, snap together  
__You and me together, knees together, freeze together_**

**_Up or down together, princess crown together_**  
**_Always be together  
YOU AND ME!_**

As the final move of their handshake Anna and Elsa suddenly slammed their left and right foot respectively onto the iceberg, creating a rippling burst of combined ice and fire energy that sent Berit back into the wall of the iceberg behind her. Berit was partly dazed by the attack, but was mostly enraged as she finally shot back to her feet and sent a lightning bolt at the sisters.

Elsa gasped, shoving Anna aside and letting the bolt hit herself as she was sent flying to the opposite end of the iceberg. Anna went wide-eyed as she saw where her sister went, before frantically putting up her sword to deflect Berit's next attack. Berit let out a furious shriek as she swung her bolt, shattering the blade of Anna's sword as the hilt flew out of her hand.

**"NO!"** Anna cried out as Bruni fell with the sword, stripping her of his powers as she returned to her normal self, and was now even more vulnerable to attack. Berit took full advantage of this, sending a fist into the Queen's stomach before grabbing the braid of her hair and tossing her to the wall of the iceberg. Anna grunted as the wall shattered on impact and she landed in a pile of debris, struggling to get back up before Berit pressed her foot down onto her chest.

_"Always be together, eh? Pah... this is exactly what I meant..."_ she pressed her foot down further on Anna as she opened her hand, letting a few lightning bolts sparkle from her fingers as she looked down at the Queen. _"Love makes fools of us all, Anna. Ha ha, especially people like you..."_

"You're wrong..." Anna's tone of voice was confident and defiant, though still somewhat strained. Berit raised a smug eyebrow as she lifted her foot slightly, leaning down a bit so she could face Anna. _"Is that a fact? Hmm...? Well how exactly am I wrong, Anna?"_

"Love is the strongest power in the universe... it always was, and it always will be." Anna had a grin on her face as she quickly glanced behind Berit, before she spoke a little louder as if giving a signal to someone. **"For one thing... only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart!"**

**_"Wait, what?!"_** Berit's breath stilled in her throat as she turned around to see who was standing there. It was at this moment that the Storm Queen realised what was about to happen as she put up her hands to defend herself, but it was too late.

**_"HUUUUURRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!" _**Elsa clapped her hands together to send a massive, devastating blast of ice in Berit's direction. Berit went wide-eyed with a gasp as she felt the ice strike her right in the chest, as the force of the blow sent her flying backwards over Anna and she disappeared into the mists of the maelstrom.

Elsa pulled Anna to her feet as Bruni jumped back onto her sister's shoulder, brushing Anna's now regular-coloured hair out of her face. She was still quite breathless after what she'd seen, laughing as she looked her sister proudly in the eye. _"And just when I thought you couldn't be anymore full of surprises, Anna..."_

Anna smiled at this, before the pair jumped off of the iceberg and onto the _Nøkk_ as they headed into the mist, planning to make sure they'd finished off the Storm Queen once and for all.


	17. Elsa's Decision - Farewell Medley

The maelstrom grew stronger as it's whirlpool became deeper and wider, with the towering waves now starting to pull the chunks of Ahtohallan closer to it's abyss. The Storm Queen was lying on her knees on the iceberg closest to the maelstrom, the very centre of the still collapsing glacier. Berit let out a pained, shivering groan as she limped across the iceberg, feeling her body grow colder and stiffer as she looked down at the ice patterns spreading across her hands. She could hear the galloping of the _Nøkk_ as it charged from the mist with the sisters on top of it, letting out a pained little grin as she muttered under her breath. _"That's it... that's it now... come on... **COME ON!**"_

_**"RRAAAAAGGGGHHH!"**_ Elsa leapt off of the water horse's back, running on foot across the water as she readied a final blast of ice. Berit used all the strength she could muster to send a final lightning bolt in Elsa's direction, with the Snow Queen dodging gracefully as it flew right past her.

**"Ugh!"**

_**"ANNA!" **_Elsa gasped as she turned around to see the bolt striking her sister instead, sending Anna flying off of the _Nøkk_ and onto a loose iceberg while Elsa clumsily tumbled into Berit. The foundations of Ahtohallan finally started to sink into the maelstrom as the two magical Queens struggled on the ice, with Berit latching onto Elsa's bodice as they were both dragged towards the edge of the abyss.

Elsa barely noticed Berit or the crashing waves around them as she kept herself clutched to the iceberg they were on, instead keeping her eyes fixated on her unconscious sister while the iceberg carrying Anna came closer to the vast whirlpool. The _Nøkk_ came over to the Snow Queen before Elsa put up her hand to stop it, causing Berit to go wide-eyed as she tried to climb up Elsa's body with her own continuing to freeze up.

_**"No... no-no-no, what are you doing?!"**_ She gripped the top of Elsa's dress to look her in the eyes, with Elsa already loosening her grip on the iceberg. **_"We should be goddesses, Elsa! If you do this now, we'll both die!"_**

_"Some people are worth dying for!"_ Elsa spat back in a confident, defiant tone, looking back to the _Nøkk _as she gave her order. **_"Save my sister!"_**

**_"Wait!" _**Berit failed to grip the iceberg herself as Elsa let go, both of them falling with the remains of Ahtohallan as it was sucked into the abyss below.

The fall towards the mouth of the whirlpool was long and steep, allowing Berit to be overcome with a powerful, ravenous fury as she got a hold of Elsa, gripping the Snow Queen's neck tightly with both hands as she shouted out curse words through her tears. Elsa paid no attention, with the sound of Berit's voice and the waves being completely drowned out to silence as she kept her eyes upwards.

A relieved if somewhat bittersweet smile formed on Elsa's face as she saw the _Nøkk_ carrying her sister to safety and out of the maelstrom's reach. Anna was safe, and that was all that mattered to her as the dark began to close in and the end seemed to draw nearer and nearer. Berit's body continued to grow stiffer as the blue ice nearly consumed her, with the weight of it causing her to fall towards the bottom at a faster rate than Elsa. She still didn't give up, keeping her hands attached to Elsa's left sleeve as she tried to pull the Snow Queen down with her.

**"ELSA!"**

They both went wide-eyed as they heard the familiar voice, with Elsa looking up to see the _Nøkk_ flying down towards them with Anna on it's back. The Queen latched onto her older sister's right arm with both hands as the water horse pulled them up, causing Elsa's left sleeve to tear right off as Berit fell with it.

**_"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" _**the Storm Queen cried out as the ice in her heart finally took full effect, turning her into a terrified blue statue that shattered into a thousand shards the moment it landed in the mouth of the shrinking whirlpool. _**WHOOOSH!**_

The _Nøkk_ shot like a bullet out of the maelstrom as it closed completely, carrying the sisters on it's back as it galloped across the waves back towards their kingdom. Elsa panted heavily as she kept her arms latched around Anna's waist, burying her face in the back of her sister's shoulder as the Queen smiled breathlessly at her.

"Elsa, you... you'd sacrifice yourself for me?" Neither was sure if their faces were wet due to the water or their tears as Anna said this, with Elsa smiling back as tightened her grip on her sister's waist.

_"I love you, Anna. Nothing on Earth's ever gonna change that."_

* * *

Everyone from Arendelle, the Northuldra and Weselton cheered as Berit's purple storm clouds faded from the sky, letting the orange glow of sunset return as the bright rainbow of the aurora danced across the stars above. Kristoff stood on the very edge of the banking and stared out into the open sea, tears of joy beginning to fill his eyes as he saw the _Nøkk_ galloping towards Arendelle with his wife and sister-in-law on it's back.

**_Na na na heyana  
__Hahiyaha naha  
__Naheya heya na yanuwa  
__Anhahe yunuwana_**

He ran into the fjord with the water going to his knees as the _Nøkk_ pulled up, with Anna leaping off of the water horse's back and into her husband's arms. Elsa dismounted her steed as she watched the royal couple kiss with an approving smirk, before looking to the others on the island all cheering for her when she stepped closer to the banking.

**"Elsa!"** Honeymaren yelled as she, Ryder, Yelena and Mattias all ran towards her out of the crowd, with Elsa hugging the siblings as she stepped onto dry land before taking Yelena and the General's hands in each of her own. Kristoff and Anna held one another's hands as they saw the trolls rolling in, only for the couple and Elsa to go wide-eyed as they saw Olaf, Beatrix and Loaf running towards them.

**"HEY! You guys are all okay!"** Olaf shrieked with joy as he and his siblings jumped up, the three of them knocking the three humans back into the water as they trapped them all in a big group hug. All six of them were laughing heartily and lovingly as Anna, Kristoff and Elsa pulled themselves to their knees, still keeping the snowmen wrapped in their embrace, which Marshmallow and the Snowgies soon joined as Gale and the Earth Giants watched proudly.

The two sisters stepped hand-in-hand from the water and smiled at the crowd of Northuldrans, Arendellians and Weseltonians, with everyone whooping and cheering for them. Anna had initially assumed the reception was mostly for Elsa, before the latter lifted up her sister's wrist in the air as the crowd cheered even louder for their Queen. The Storm Queen was gone, and their Queens had saved them together, and the kingdom couldn't have been happier about it.

**_Na na na heyana  
__Hahiyaha naha  
__Naheya heya na yanuwa  
__Anhahe yunuwana_**

_**"Elsa..."**_ the Snow Queen looked to Pabbie as everyone else celebrated still, nodding with a wise look of knowing as he motioned his hand to what was behind her. Elsa turned to see where his hand was pointing, seeing the Earth Giants and the _Nøkk_ all standing on the water as they looked to the North at something.

Elsa and Anna were both confused at first, before they looked in the same direction as the spirits were with wide eyes. The aurora was glowing brighter than ever in the air above, and was much closer to Arendelle than it usually would have been. Both sisters had an inkling of what this meant, with Elsa remaining silent as she looked away from the others.

It didn't take long for Kristoff to put two and two together as he too noticed the aurora, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder as she called over to her sister. "Elsa...? It's... it's that place, isn't it?"

_"Ahtohallan is gone... they're not... they don't think they're safe..."_ Elsa sighed as she turned back to Anna and Kristoff, though she kept glancing back to the four spirits as a conflicted tone made it's way into her voice. _"They want to... ugh... they want me to... um... I... I don't... hmm..."_

She took Anna's hands as she smiled, though she was struggling not to cry as her throat became strained and a dozen thoughts raced in her head at once. _"It doesn't need to be like this, Anna, it... it'll be fine. I know it will, everything... everything's just gonna go back to normal, and... and I won't have to... I won't have to go."_

"Elsa..." Anna smiled back to calm her sister down a bit. "We'll be okay..."

_"Yeah... yeah, we will..."_ Elsa's tone of voice was still somewhat regretful as she looked back to the spirits again, sighing as she looked down to the floor. They stayed in silence for about five seconds before Anna cleared her throat.

The Snow Queen looked up at her sister, with Anna choking up for a moment before she clarified her statement. A single tear made it's way down the Queen's face as she spoke, though that was merely a prelude for what was to come. "_Arendelle..._ will be okay, Elsa."

Elsa went wide-eyed at this, taking a few seconds to process what her sister was saying. Or rather, what she was meaning. They kept their fingers closely interlinked still, holding tighter than ever as if it was the last they time they were ever going to do it. _"Anna... are you sure?"_

The Queen wiped her face with the back of her hand as she nodded, before grunting slightly as she felt something at her feet. They both looked down to see Olaf, Beatrix and Loaf all latching onto Anna's legs, with them only being just tall enough to reach that height. All three of them were misty-eyed, but Olaf seemed to be hit worst with it. "Do we have to go too?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation before Anna nodded, with her, Kristoff and Elsa all getting down on their knees so they could be level with the snowmen. She stroked the back of Beatrix's head with her finger, still looking at their original snowman while nodding. "Well, yeah, Olaf, but... hmm... you guys'll love it up there."

_"Aren't you coming with us?"_ Beatrix seemed especially miserable as she said this, as if she already knew what the answer was going to be, before Anna sighed as she cupped the snow-girl's face and straightened her glasses. "Aw sweetheart... you know I can't do that."

Loaf patted his saddened sister on the shoulder, the two exchanging a smile as he said "I bet it's beautiful wherever we're going, Beatrix... it'll be big, lot of adventure, and... and no one's gonna want to eat us either..."

They all stifled a laugh at Loaf's remark, with Kristoff trying to fight back his own tears as he kept his arms outstretched. _"So... does, um... ha ha... does anyone need a warm hug?"_

They were all gushing out tears as they got together in a tight embrace, with Beatrix wrapping her arms around Anna's waist while Anna held all three snowmen and her sister in her arms, with Kristoff enveloping the lot of them in his. Olaf felt his voice being strained by his crying as he kept as tight as he could to his family, feeling very reluctant when he felt their grip loosen a bit as they started to separate.

"I, um..." he stuttered for a moment, before letting out a small, nostalgic sigh. "I like warm hugs..."

_"Me too..."_ Beatrix sighed back, before Loaf added "yeah... me three..."

Anna took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and kept the hug intact for a few more moments, exhaling as she whispered quietly. "I love you all..."

She sniffled a bit as she and Kristoff released the snowmen from their grip, letting them walk behind Elsa as Marshmallow and the Snowgies all joined them. Elsa then went over to the royal couple as they all stood up, reaching up to kiss Kristoff on the cheek as she took his hand. _"Take care of each other, okay?"_

_"We will..."_ he nodded back with a smile, before Elsa finally looked to Anna again. No words were exchanged as the sisters trapped each other in a tight embrace, neither daring to let go as tears continued to stream down their faces to the point where they soaked the other's shoulder. It must have taken a minute for them to finally pull away, both of them still sniffling through their smiles as Elsa stepped backwards towards her group and Anna stayed with Kristoff.

_Something has changed within me_  
_Something is not the same_

_I can't be playing by the rules_  
_Of someone else's game_

The Snow Queen swallowed as she looked around at the entire kingdom and everyone in it, with Mattias, Yelena and Honeymaren all standing behind the royal couple silently. She rubbed the back of her head before she crossed her arms as she always did when she was upset, a feeling that only worsened when Anna started stepping slowly towards her.

_There's so much I want to say_

Don't say a word, I'd know it anyway

_It's like a dream  
__I thought would never be..._

Elsa...  
You're free

Anna took her sister's hands as she sang the next part, a gentle tone in her voice as her sister's eyes widened.

Let it go  
Let it go

Show us what you can do

Elsa smiled as she cupped her sister's face, while Kristoff, the snowmen and even the entire kingdom joined in the singing.

_**Let it go**_  
_**Let it go**_

_The magic one is you_

_Here I go, we've come so far_

Show yourself  
Let them see who you are

Anna let go of Elsa's hands as more tears starting streaming down her face and she slowly pulled away from her sister. Elsa closed her eyes as the snowflake's portal opened in the distance. Olaf and his siblings all waved teary-eyed at the crowd as they started flurrying away, letting Gale's wind carry them all into the sky as the ice palace melted away back into the North Mountain.

_If there's nothing to break my fall_  
_It's okay, I've seen it all_

_If I don't make it, sing my song_  
_From here I'm weightless_  
_No stars are famous_  
_And the world is small_

The Earth Giants started crumbling down into the fjords as their spirits headed towards the aurora, while Anna slowly took Bruni off of her shoulder. The small salamander licked the side of the Queen's face, prompting a little smile from her before she passed him over to Elsa. The Snow Queen let out a weak little sigh as it was just and the _Nøkk_ left, glancing back to the aurora's vortex in the distance before she looked to Anna for a final show of approval.

"It's time, Elsa..." Anna's voice was almost like a whisper, with Elsa nodding slowly as she held her head up. _"Yeah... it's time."_

Elsa turned away from her sister as she and her husband took a few steps back towards the crowd behind them, letting the ice form beneath her feet as she walked across the water. A confident grin formed on her feet as she slammed her foot down hard onto the ice.

The entire crowd cried out in amazement as the snowflake shape appeared in the aurora, sending out the rainbow bridge as it flew from the black triangle into the sea a mile away. Elsa bellowed out with all the strength in her lungs as she turned back to see the kingdom watching her.

_So if you care to find me  
__Look to the Northern sky!_

_As someone told me lately  
_**_Everyone deserves the chance to fly!_**

Elsa leapt onto the _Nøkk's_ back as it took off at a great speed towards the aurora. Anna and Kristoff both ran to the very edge of the fjord, everyone watching in awe as the water horse rose out of the waves and began to run up the rainbow bridge with the other spirits while Elsa continued to sing.

_Tell them how I  
__Am defying gravity!_

_I'm flying high  
__Defying gravity!_

She dismounted the steed at the very edge of the bridge, letting it rejoin the other spirits as they all disappeared into the black vortex of the portal. Elsa turned a final time to her kingdom, her, family, her sister, seeing Anna give a confident nod of approval as she nodded back.

**_And nothing's gonna  
__Bring... me... d__own!_**

Anna smiled despite the tearful mess her face was becoming, with her and Kristoff watching as the vortex slowly closed with Elsa's open-armed silhouette remaining visible until the very last moment. The crowd continued to sing behind the couple as the rainbow bridge vanished with a blinding blast of pure white light that swept over the kingdom, slowly fading away as the aurora returned to it's rightful place in the night sky.

**_Let it go  
Let it go_**

**_And she'll rise like the break of dawn_**

**_Let it go  
Let it go_**

**_The fear and cold are gone_**

**_Here we stand  
In the light of day_**

**_Let our true love go!_**

**_LET... IT..._**

**_GO!_**


	18. Epilogue

_**"Mama, Papa! Wake up, wake up, wake up!"**_

"Ugh... okay, I'm up, sweetheart, I'm up, ha ha... ooh..." Anna brushed her messy hair out of her eyes as she sat up in the bed, getting a hold of the excited five-year-old that was sitting on her lap and trying to keep her still as the child got a bad case of the giggles. She chuckled as she tried her best to brush the platinum-blonde bangs out of the girl's face, straightening the child's glasses so she could look her right in her bright blue eyes.

"Now, Thyra... did you wanna say something or is Mommy allowed to go back to sleep?"

_"But... but look outside! It's snowing!" _the little princess clumsily jumped down from the bed, her messy hair getting all over her face again as she ran to the window and pulled the curtain open. Anna went wide-eyed as she saw the snowflakes falling down and staining the window pane, excitedly prodding her husband as he opened his eyes and scratched at his beard.

_"Uh... yeah...?"_

"Kristoff... Kristoff, it... it's today!" she frantically said, which prompted him to jolt up fully awake as he saw the snow for himself and realised what she meant. They both got out of bed and started rushing around getting dressed, which slightly confused little Thyra as she sat in front of the window still. Once she'd changed into a jade green gown with black leggings and winter boots, Anna got down to her daughter's level and took her hands affectionately.

"Alright, come on, you... time to get ready." the Queen was almost squealing through the excited little smile on her face as the child raised an eyebrow. "There's gonna be a big surprise waiting out there soon!"

**_"Wait, what?!"_** Thyra gasped as she put her hands over her mouth, barely able to contain her amazement. _"What's the surprise, Mama?!"_

* * *

Thyra held on to her parents' hands as they led her out of the castle and into the village, where most of the town was having fun in the gentle, beautiful snowfall all around them. Ryder and Honeymaren waved a friendly little hello to the Royal Family as they passed the stables, with the Northuldra leader and her brother tending to the reindeer while they watched the Northuldran and Arendellian children making snow-angels and building snowmen together.

The three stopped at the foot of the statue in the town square, with Thyra looking up with wide eyes at the four figures standing on the pedestal. She'd seen this statue many times as she played in the village, but this was the first time she'd genuinely stopped to take in the details. The shorter statues at the front appeared to be of two children, a boy and a girl holding hands, while one of the two women behind them appeared to be the spitting image of her mother. Anna smiled as she lifted her daughter off the ground, holding her so they were at eye level as she walked closer to the statues.

_"Hey Mama... is the Snow Queen that one next to you?"_ Thyra asked curiously as she pointed to the statue beside Anna's, while Kristoff wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter. Anna chuckled as she nodded to her daughter's question, looking to her husband as she said "you reckon it's almost time...?"

_"Yeah... I think so."_ Kristoff nodded, letting Anna pass Thyra over to him. He held the girl in one hand while he held Anna's in his other, both of them giving the excited child a reassuring little smirk as they headed down the pier towards the fjord.

* * *

The water on the fjord was covered with a thin sheet of ice as the family sat down to rest on the snowy riverbank. It was almost noon, though the sky was already dark enough for the aurora to dance among the stars above, casting all of it's colours against the reflection of the ice. Kristoff held onto their daughter while Anna told her a story, a story that had easily become Thyra's favourite over the dozens of times she heard it.

It was the story of a Queen born with the power to create ice and snow, a plucky princess that saved the day, a humble yet lonesome ice harvester and his reindeer, and a whole family of talking snowmen. There were villains of the most despicable nature, an enchanted forest with five elemental spirits guarding it, a frozen glacier filled with memories of the past, and a rainbow bridge in the sky to a hidden paradise of magic. But more than anything, it was a tale of two sisters, and an unbreakable bond of love that would always connect them, no matter how far apart they were.

"Some say the Snow Queen vanished into thin air, or just melted away one shiny summer morning. Others believe the whole thing was a trick and that she never existed to begin with." Anna had a little smirk on her face as she playfully pressed her daughter's nose like a button. "But _we_ know better."

The girl's eyes widened as she and her father saw the snowy winds swirling in the distance, but Anna didn't seem to notice as she continued. "What really happened was something I can barely even begin to understand... but all I know for certain is that for one day a year, on every Winter Solstice..."

**_"M... Mama... look!"_** Thyra frantically pointed behind her mother as Anna paused her story, turning around slowly to see the vaguely human shape forming in the swirl of snow at the edge of the fjord. The princess ducked behind her father's back, watching in utter awe as her mother excitedly ran to the figure, tightly embracing the platinum-blonde haired goddess before the latter had even fully materialised from the mist.

Both the women were laughing like children as they pulled out of the hug, with Anna frantically rambling on as she tried to say something. Elsa had a brow raised with her smile, hardly even listening to what her sister was saying as she just gazed lovingly at her. Her grin shrank a bit when she looked past Anna to see Kristoff standing there with a little head being visible from behind his back, causing Anna to stop talking as she remembered why they were all there.

"Oh... oh right, ha ha..." Anna cleared her throat as she bent down onto one knee while Kristoff and Elsa did the same, making a beckoning gesture with her hand as Kristoff turned around with an encouraging smile to the girl.

_"Sweetheart..."_ he almost whispered as she slowly moved her head out again. _"Go on, don't be shy..."_

Elsa exhaled with her hand over her heart as the girl came out from behind her father, rubbing her arm nervously as she slowly stepped towards the Snow Queen. _"Hi there..."_ she whispered in a warm tone to the girl. _"What's your name, little one?"_

_"Uh... Thyra?"_ the girl answered timidly, letting a little smirk cross her face as Elsa said _"Thyra? Wow... that's such a beautiful name, ha ha..."_

The child still seemed uneasy, before Anna took her hand with a reassuring grin. "Thyra, honey... this is your Aunt Elsa..."

This caused Thyra's eyes to widen with an excited gasp, as if silently asking her mother if it was actually true. Elsa chuckled as Anna nodded, only to grunt with slight shock when Thyra suddenly jumped onto her and threw her arms tight around her neck. Exchanging an encouraging nod with Anna and Kristoff, Elsa returned the embrace as she felt a small tear go down her face.

_"Anna..."_ Elsa looked back to her sister with a playful grin as the five year-old kept hugging her tightly. She motioned her eyes over to the fjord as the aurora continued to glow in the air, causing Anna's face to light up in excitement. _"The sky's awake."_

* * *

_**Na na na heyana**_  
_**Hahiyaha naha**_

_**"WOOHOO!" **_Thyra sat on her mother's lap as they both slid down the steep slope of snow that Elsa had made, with the raised end shooting them up into the air as they held tight to each other. The Queen and Princess landed right in front of Kristoff on the back of the ice-sculpted reindeer he was riding on, with Sven's proud neigh bellowing out of it's mouth as he continued to gallop across the frozen fjord.

**"Heads up!"**

Kristoff held his daughter's head down as the snowman flew over the top of them, with Elsa just catching Olaf and sitting him down on the _Nøkk's_ back behind her. She smiled at her sister and niece as the water horse pulled alongside Sven, ruffling Thyra's hair playfully before they all heard a male and female voice laughing behind them.

**_"Hey guys!"_** Beatrix shouted over clumsily as she and Loaf held onto the glowing blue reins attached to the _Nøkk's_ back, letting the steed pull them along while they skied across the ice as well. The group faced forwards again as Thyra stood up on Sven's back, keeping her arms outstretched as Kristoff held her up.

_**"THIS IS AMAZING!"**_

Both the sisters had happy tears in the eyes as they took one another's hand, their arms creating a bridge between Sven and the _Nøkk_ as they raced across the fjord towards Arendelle. The distance didn't really matter anymore, if it ever did to begin with. They were all together, and they always would be. And they couldn't possibly wish for anything better.

**_Na na na heyana  
__Hahiyaha naha  
_**

* * *

**THE END**


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